Friends For Life
by HeartCurl23
Summary: Sebastian and Claude both consider themselves good fathers, but one can't tell where the fine line is before he's "over-board protective" while the other never once told his daughter her own mother's true identity. Life doesn't wait for them to work out these problems as more conflicts spring up in the Reaper realm, among the humans, and even with ghosts from their pasts.
1. DO NOT SKIP!

**I'm going to try something with this story. I've seen a few times, people who give their ocs names and descriptions instead of just censoring that out and labeling the stories as "reader included". I've also received a request a few months ago to give my ocs their own names and descriptions, stating that it was armature and difficult to enjoy the story that way.**

**This is my second largest and second most complex story yet. It is one of my largest prides. I debated for a long time whether or not I should publish it at all, since it does have five ocs that may or may not sit well with some audiences unless they don't know Black Butler very well. If you are very familiar with Black Butler, then I request that you separate the back stories demonstrated in the show from this specific story. Trying to line up back stories might only give you a severe headache. I attempted to line up the back stories as well as I could, while still making this story possible.**

**Oh well. If this goes well, and it turns out that you all enjoy these stories too, I might post the absolute most complex story, possibly ever attempted.**

**I really hope this turns out the way I hope. If you don't understand something mentioned in the story, please share your thoughts in a review and I will answer your questions and/or clear any and all confusion to the best of my abilities. If you have a problem with how this story is put together, such as plot holes or character flaws, feel free to share your concerns and complaints. I won't judge. Although, I almost guarantee that your reply will simply be, "I'm sorry you think this way, but it's a story. Anything the imagination is capable of is possible"**

**Please enjoy the story.**


	2. Chapter 2

The young girl, only 6 years old in appearance, climbed happily into her bed and snuggled under the soft, brightly colored covers. Her long, wavy brown hair scattered the pillow like a river delta leading to the ocean as her large, round golden brown eyes shined in the bright candle light illuminating from her father's hand. Setting the light on the side table, the black haired, golden eyed man by the name of Claude Feastus tucked the covers around the girl's small frame. "Warm enough, Angel?" he asked.

Angel nodded and with a giggle looked up at him. With a spark of curiosity from a young, wandering mind she asked, "Daddy, what was mommy like?"

Claude widened his eyes slightly in shock of the sudden question before he sighed and turned away in a weak attempt to hide his discomfort. Turning back to the girl patiently waiting for an answer, slightly folded, small, pointed puppy ears popped on her head as she sat up, her eyes growing wide and shining in the light as her bottom lip pouted out and even began to tremble. He tries to stay in his human form around his daughter, due to her arachnophobia, but he felt himself start to grow small as two pairs of pointed legs started to show at his sides. He couldn't help it; he just slips into his spider form when his heart melts like it does when he sees her famous, mastered puppy pout (kind of ironic, Claude was known as a spider demon throughout the underworld, and his only daughter was deathly afraid of spiders).

Quickly pulling himself together, back to his human form, he sighed and gave her a slight smile. "Your mother was..." Claude was never good with words when describing anything specific, especially not Angel's mother. Finding it hard to speak, with his voice stressed, he was barely able to whisper, "...Your mother was a gift from God. She was sent from heaven so she could give me the most wonderful gift; you."

The girl in the bed, now sitting up straight with her baby fat hands in her lap, leaned forward in a mixture of interest, awe, and confusion. "If Mommy was a gift, then what happened? Did you lose her?"

The father furrowed his thick, black brows before tilting his head. "...Something like that." he answered. "God took her back when he saw we were demons and deemed us undeserving of her."

"How did she die?" the daughter asked. "If God took her back, that means she died, right?"

The father wracked his brain on how to answer her questions in a way she'd understand. "I'm not sure how exactly." he answered.

Angel sighed sadly. "I hope that God at least gave her a window to see us."

As the father gazed at his dreamy daughter, he decided that he had to change the subject. He didn't want to tell her too much. With a little smile, he connected his index fingers to his thumbs and started singing softly, but intensely and playfully just as he did every night before his daughter went to bed.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout~"

The girl smiled widely as she joined him in the little dance and song.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out~!  
Up came the sun and dried up all the rain~!  
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again~!"

The two chuckled as Claude re-secured the blankets under the girl. "Daddy," she asked, looking up at him with her golden brown eyes. "why do we call that our theme song?"

"Imagine you at the top of that water spout, and me as the spider." Claude explained. "I would find a way to get to you no matter what. Sure, the rain might push me back, but when it comes to you, I will never give up." He smiled as he let out a sigh. "Another way you could think of it is that there is only one person you can trust, and only one I can trust. That is you and me."

"You and me against the world~" the girl simplified with a giggle.

Hearing that, the father smiled. He liked the sound of that. "Yes. You and me against the world."

Just before Claude reached for the candles, she sat up, still not tired enough to go to sleep and still just wanting nothing more than play time. "Daddy," she started before he smiled a little, adjusting his glasses. "...what big eyes you have."

With a growing smile, he took off his square glasses, replacing them with a larger round pair. "The better to see you with, my Angel." he chuckled while zooming the glasses in and out between himself and the girl.

With another little laugh, Claude kissed Angel on the head softly. "Goodnight my little puppy." he stated while patting her head playfully. "Sweet dreams sweetie."

Across London, another little girl seemingly not any older than 6 with red-brown hair matted on a pillow and blue-green glowing eyes looked over at the doorway where her own father, Sebastian Michaelis, entered and shut the door behind him. Smiling, the girl snuggled her way under the sheets as the man with straight black hair and kind crimson eyes pulled the blankets to her chin. Before he had a chance to remove her purple glasses from her chubby face, the small child sat up in alarm, black, pointed, cat ears standing stiff on the top of her head where they magically appeared. "Daddy!" she shouted. "Where is he?!" Concern dripped from her tone.

At first, Sebastian was confused, but then smiled and reached behind his back. He then pulled out a soft pink and white teddy bear the size of an average adult's forearm. "You mean this?"

The girl reached out to the bear and hugged it close. "Mr. Pinki!" She smiled and laid in the bed, the bear tight in her grip.

Sebastian gazed at her with a smile as she snuggled close to the bear she valued so much, then a thought came to his mind. "Justine..." he stated with a playful turn of his voice. When she looked up, his smile only widened. "You better hope the Tickle Monster doesn't get you!" At the word 'tickle', Sebastian zoomed in and tickled her, causing her to roar in laughter.

"Daddy!" she giggled. "S-stop it!" After some more laughs, she found the breath to say, "I'm losing my defenses for the REAL tickle monster!"

Sebastian stopped tickling her and their laughter died down to a few chuckles. "I'll protect you from the real tickle monster." he promised with a smile. "From the tickle monster to the boogie man, come all hell and high water, no monster of any kind would even think of hurting you."

Justine looked up at the man she viewed as a hero with a growing, brightly beaming smile. "Really?"

"If they do somehow get past me_** and**_ your mother, I will hunt them down and punish them so you'd never be in danger of any kind again." They both smiled as Justine laid back down in the bed and Sebastian re-tucked her in.

Just before he left the bed side, his attention was recaptured by a tug on his sleeve. "...Daddy," the small child sighed. "will you tell me a bed time story?"

The man smiled before sitting back down on the edge, turning to face her slightly. "Once upon a time..."

It wasn't long before Justine was fast asleep and Sebastian planted a small kiss on her head before unhooking the crocked glasses from her ears and setting them neatly folded on the bedside table. Looking back at her peaceful form as she squeezed the bear in her arms and silently breathed in and out, he placed a light hand on her cheek, gently gliding his black nail polished thumb over her soft baby skin. With a growing smile, he knelt down next to the bed, laying his head on the pillow next to her ear before whispering softly in the opening, "If I couldn't protect my only daughter from the evil wolf that tried to hurt her, what kind of father would I be?" When the door started to crack open and a shadow loomed across the room, he turned with a sigh and stood un-volunteering, leaving the room with one last look to his only daughter.

Leaning against the door frame, with a curled smile, was the cause of the shadow, a man with long red hair and lime green eyes behind red pentagonal glasses tied to his neck by a silver chain made up of skulls. "She in bed?" Sebastian nodded as he closed the door. The red haired man gazed at the closed door in wonder. "It's only going to get harder, you know."

"...Why, Grell, whatever do you mean?"

"When she gets older, it'll be hard on you to see our daughter go to Reaper High in a few centuries."

Hearing this, Sebastian froze stiff before he glanced back at the other man with furrowed, calculating brows. "...What makes you think she'll be a reaper, not a demon?" he asked. "She clearly has my potential."

"Don't make me laugh, dear Bassy." Grell chuckled before he suddenly gave the father a stern look, cold as ice. "She is my daughter too after all. She has _my_ eyes, _my_ eyesight, she _will_ be a reaper."

Sebastian chuckled humorlessly as he continued on his way down the hall. With each step he took, the path he walked seemed to rain in black feathers as his crow wings just started to come out on his back. "...We shall see..."


	3. Chapter 3

_**~10 centuries later~**_

Angel entered in the room, arms crossed as she leaned against the doorway. The black coat over her shoulders tightly stretched across her arms to give the limbs the room they needed for the position she decided. Over the popped up white collar of the dress shirt was a black polo tie uniformed to her father's with the exception of the purple pin that was meant to keep it tight now clipped on one end of the tie as it hung loosely around her neck. Down the back of her legs, reaching her calves covered in black slacks were the two cloth points of the black tail coat. Under her arms, the single button to the coat was undone and open, leaving the butler coat to hang at her sides with her lose, white dress shirt fully exposed if she let her arms down. Her long brown hair messily twisted around her padded shoulders as she gazed at the man in the room with half opened golden brown eyes, locked in a look only a 16 year old girl could master; a look of complete disinterest and disrespect. "So, _dad_, I hear you're someone else's manservant."

Claude simply stood there in the center of the room, gazing at her blankly with his white gloved hand adjusting his silver glasses. As opposed to Angel, the father kept his butler uniform tightly together with all the buttons together and the black tie tight on his large football player neck with the navy blue pin as close to his skin as it could get without chocking him through the top button of his own white shirt. He looked up at her with blank golden eyes before sighing. "Don't you have your own master to tend to?"

"I took care of him a year ago. Keep up with the times."

"...You finally decided to eat." he stated with a smirk. "That boy had his contract fulfilled a decade ago."

To this, Angel ripped her arms apart. "I was STARVING!" she screamed. "How else was I supposed to eat?!"

"I hear villagers have fine souls that could satisfy you for a few days." The teen sneered at her father's smart alack response and stormed out with gritted teeth and anger filled, glowing, demonic pink eyes locked on the path out the door. Claude gazed at his teenage daughter with slumped shoulders as he groaned out, "Where are you going?"

"Out!" the teen huffed out in response as she slammed the door behind her and continued to stomp down the stairs, shove out the front door, and trample through the flower beds of once lively, brightly colored flowers that could effortlessly catch the human eye instantly.

As Angel continued out the gate, Claude's eyes drifted from the window where he watched her from the second story to the royal red carpets designed with golden thread. "...Angel..." he sighed sadly. "...what happened to us?"

Meanwhile, in the Reaper Training Facility, Justine stood straight and in perfectly blended uniform to her classmates. The black suit over her shoulders hid her red blouse perfectly and no one noticed her lack of white collar and black tie. Strapped to her side were maroon handled scissors that her mother gave her as an early graduation present. In front of Justine's blue-green eyes were the purple glasses she had prescribed to her by an actual optometrist, so she had no need for the thin, silver, round, basic glasses all her classmates owned. Other than that, she didn't stick out in the crowd…except for the fact that she was the ONLY girl in the whole facility.

Standing with her shoulders pushed back, she tried not to think of how much she really stuck out as her eyes followed William, the instructor of the class, a fairly tall man that never broke uniform with his short, coal black hair, and square black and silver glasses, he himself was square, boring, and clean cut as a brand new, unpainted door. She desperately tried to keep her attention on him pacing the front of the room and giving a lecture, as always. "Mr. William," a boy beside her called, hesitantly raising his hand. "When do we get our own scythes?"

"You will be able to use higher graded Death Scythes as you collect more souls. The more difficult the soul, the higher the upgrade." he answered dully before returning to his lesson.

Justine gazed over at the boy that looked to be about 18 or 19. He had long, wavy, dark brown hair and the typical green eyes behind his glasses, which were oddly bold, square, and black. His suit wasn't buttoned; instead it was opened to fully show the front of the buttoned vest, which was bizarrely purple with his black tie tucked under. This confused her, seeing as how any color other than black, or white in the facility were out of the norm in lines of fashion. Grell was an exception since he preferred red and brown hues in his closet; he could do that since he was a fully graduated Grim Reaper instead of a student like herself and the boy that interested her so.

Of course, she's one to talk about being outside the Grim Reaper Normality, seeing as how the blue in her own eyes makes her stand out of the norm of lime green. Her prematurely personalized maroon scythe sat at her side while every other student in her class had small sickles as training scythes and all the graduated reapers with their red and white metal scythes. Even her gender made her an ugly duckling in the pond of limbo, but she didn't want to think of that at the moment.

Something else that stuck out about him was the red handled, silver bladed double bladed ax by his side. _Why did he ask a question about personal scythes if he has one already?_ she asked herself._ Also, no one is supposed to have personalized scythes and glasses until after graduation. I'm an exception because mom's an instructor and trying to shove this whole Grim Reaper career down my throat. If that's why I'm an exception to that rule, then why is that guy an exception?_ Cleaning her prescribed glasses on her sleeve, she slid the frame back on her face and looked at him closer to be sure she was seeing the boy correctly. To her eyes, the sight of the boy was simply intriguing and oddly familiar, but she didn't know why or where she could've seen him other than in class.

"Ms. Michaelis!" a voice snapped her from her thoughts. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't drift off."

"Sorry Uncle Will-I mean-Mr. William." she scrambled, not realizing she was drifting towards the boy until she was nearly falling. William gave her another cold, hard look before continuing his lecture. Justine sighed as she lifted her eyes to him, also seeing Grell sitting in the corner with red nail polish. _Good. _she breathed. _Mom didn't see me...or at least didn't notice me...looking at that boy. He'd have a fit!_

After class, Justine rushed out to the front to see Sebastian at the gate, securing the over coat on his shoulders that covered his black tail coat, tie, white dress shirt. His silver chain leading to his silver pocket watch stringing from under the grey over coat and into his large side pocket. His white gloved hands slipped to his watch as he quickly checked the time and huffed before going back to arguing with other reapers hired to guard the students in training from demons; seeing as how reapers were supposed to be neutral and demons were supposed to be dramatically swayed to the evil side of the supernatural stereotype, defense was deemed a necessity. _I wonder where mom and dad missed that part when they decided I was meant to be born... _Justine thought as she rushed to her father's rescue, listening to him convince the reapers that he posed no threat like he must do every other Friday after class.

"I'm telling you! I'm only here to pick up my daughter! We go through this every other week, and I'm short on time!"

"That's a rich story."

"Yeah, best one I've ever heard."

"DAD! Over here!" she shouted, waving her arms and catching the reapers' and Sebastian's attention.

The moment the three saw her, Sebastian grinned while the other two hung their mouths open. "Now, if you'll excuse me," he stated as he squeezed between the two reapers to get to her with a smug smile on his face directed to the nameless guards as the demons walked back out side by side. "See you two in two weeks~"

Sebastian sighed as he drove the wagon down the road, Justine sitting beside him with boredom scribbled all over her face. She'd already removed the suit and replaced it with her favorite black sweater that went perfectly with her red blouse and black slacks anyway. "How was school?"

"Fine."

"Are you alright?"

"Fine."

"You're very talkative today." he mumbled, quietly thinking of a way to fill in the silence between the father and daughter. "...Undertaker told me that he wants you to visit with him while I finish my work. It's just a small murder case the master was assigned, I should be done before too long."

"Fine."

"...Humans say nothing rhymes with orange, but nothing and orange don't rhyme at all."

"What?"

"You ARE paying attention." Sebastian smiled victoriously before he pulled the reigns of the horses and the wagon stopped on the cobble stone street. Beside them was a small building with a large sign labeled 'Undertaker'. "I'll see after work."

Justine groaned and stepped off the wagon, the wood creaking under her feet before she stood on the sidewalk with crossed arms and a scowl. "I don't need a babysitter." she grumbled as she entered the building and heard the clopping of the horses hooves on the cobble stone fade down the street. When she opened the door, she was greeted with nothing but coffins. "...Hello?" she called in the uneasily dark and creepy atmosphere of the room before she sighed in boredom. "I know you're here uncle! I'm too old for this game!" When there was no response, she opened the only coffin that was standing and crossed her arms at the residence.

Inside was a tall man with long silvery white hair that also covered his eyes. He was dressed in all black and grey, and appeared to be dead. Justine just gazed at him un-amused and huffed, "...Hey Uncle Undertaker."

"What gave me away?" he whined with a smile on his face. _At least she played along_. he thought. _That's more than what I could say about her lately._

To this, she slumped as he climbed out of the coffin. "Uncle, you hide in the SAME EXACT coffin EVERY time I come to visit."

"Oh, you're no fun anymore." he grumbled humorously. "I liked it better when you called me 'Uncle Undy', at least then you laughed at my jokes and played my games."

The teen furrowed her brows. "I was only 425 then. That was 1,176 years ago!"

"Just because you're 1,600, and you think you're all grown up, doesn't mean you can't have a laugh once in a while."

"I'm 1,601!" she corrected.

"One year makes as much a difference to you as one day does for a human, my sweet." he chuckled, causing Justine to cross her arms. Undertaker straightened and sighed, his smile still plastered on his face, framed by his scars on his cheeks, neck, and nose. "You mind helping me out for a bit? I need someone to bring back a body down the street a ways, and I need to stay here and check inventory. Would you mind fetching the body for me?"

"Fine. Just give me a ride or something so I'm not dragging some dead guy on the sidewalk." she answered dully.

"You know my price for one of those carriages."

The teen groaned and pouted a little before clearing her throat. "I told my dad to embrace his mistakes. He cried. Then he hugged me."

Undertaker chuckled a little, but shook his head with his smile still carved through his cheeks. "You can do better than that with a father like yours, I know you can."

Justine thought for a moment before trying again. "A man and a dog go in a bar and make bets with the bartender that if the dog will talk, they get free drinks. The man asked the dog, 'What's on top of a house?' and the dog replied, 'Roof'. The man then asked the dog, 'What protects a tree?' and the dog answered, 'Bark'. Because it was a con, the bar tender threw them out. After getting kicked out, the dog turned to the man and asked, 'Why is it always the Talking Dog?'"

He let out a hearty laugh before nodding and tossing her a steel horse bit, which she caught with graceful ease. "Good enough. Don't take too long~!" With that, she got out the back and hooked up the black horse to the small carriage.

**. . .**

Angel was wandering the streets, kicking a rock just for something to look at, when she saw a teenage girl struggle with what looked like a dead body. The girl was dragging the corps in a carriage labeled 'Undertaker' across the side. Her red tinted brown hair was shielding her face as she pulled and yanked the body across the stone. "Need some help?" Angel asked, causing the girl to stop and look up.

"N-no." she answered, looking into Angel's golden brown eyes with her blue tinted green ones behind slipping purple glasses and revealing that her black sweater was falling off her shoulders that were left bare from lack of sleeves with her blouse. As she shifted the corps to one arm, she used her temporarily free hand to adjust her purple glasses before she rushed the hand back under the falling half of the body. "I got it."

Angel ignored her claim and grabbed the dead man's feet, lifting them and assisting in loading him in the carriage. "I haven't seen you around here before." the girl stated, pulling her sweater back where it goes on her shoulders. "You live out in the country?"

"Something like that." Angel answered before dusting her hands and reaching out to shake the girl's. "Angel Feastus is the name."

The other girl took the hand and shook it a little before shutting the doors. "Justine Michaelis. Nice to meet you."

"I couldn't help but notice the sign on the carriage." Angel stated as Justine strolled back to the front of the carriage, the new teen following close behind. "Are you the town's Undertaker?" the Feastus girl asked.

Justine chuckled a little before climbing up to the seat in the front. "No, not me. I'm just the Undertaker's niece."

The girl still standing in the stone street looked around before leaning in as close as she could to the teen on the carriage. "I don't think that guy is human."

Hearing this, she stopped untying the reins from the carriage and looked at her with a sense of urgency and nervousness. "What makes you think that?" she asked. "Of course my uncle's a human."

"I see him at...places..." she answered. "...Places I've seen you at..."

_Creepy._ Justine thought, but kept her polite smile. "I'm not sure where you could've seen me at, I mean I-"

"I know you're a reaper." she blurted out. "I've seen you and your 'uncle' at that training facility. Also, your eyes and glasses are a dead giveaway."

"I'm not a Grim Reaper!" Justine exclaimed.

"You're also not human!"

"How would you know?!"

"You don't smell human!"

Hearing this, it silently clicked in the Michaelis girl's head. "Who did you say your parents were again?" Justine asked.

"I never said my dad's name, and I'm not going to." Angel replied, crossing her arms. "My dad's a jerk. He can't even teach me to be a demon right."

Justine sighed. "Yeah, my mom's a jerk too." She chuckled a little as she just continued to blabber on about her supernatural life to this complete stranger that claims to be a demon. "One of my uncles is dull, the other is a child, and my dad...well...I can't say much bad about my dad. I mean, he is one hell of a dad."

Angel chuckled. "My dad thinks he's one hell of a dad, but he's not even close."

The reaper smiled a little. "Maybe we can hang out some time."

"Sure." The demon stated. "Sounds fun."


	4. Chapter 4

As the months flew by, Justine and Angel became close friends, though they never talked about each other's families before. They built a secret club house cabin (more like a wooden room with a log bench and fire pit) in the middle of the forest at the end of a path of hidden skulls and various bones; only the girls could recognize the path and follow it; no demon, reaper, or even angel could follow them without an invitation. They didn't think that angels would care about them enough to follow them, but better safe than sorry, right?

One December day, Angel and Justine were decorating the cabin for Christmas with whatever they could spare from their homes or find from the forest. As they loaded the large Christmas tree with colored pine cones and a golden string of lights, Justine decided to break the ice a little. "You remember when we met; you said you've seen me and my uncles before at the training facility?"

"Yeah," Angel commented, wrapping a wire around a pine cone so she could hook it on a branch. "I remember. Why?"

"Why were you _at_ the facility in the first place?"

The demon paused in thought, wondering how to answer. After a minute of deep thought, she bit her lip. "...Okay...This is just between the two of us, right?"

The reaper nodded, using her long red nails to mark an 'X' over her heart. "Cross my heart, hope to die,"

"Stick a paw in my eye." both girls finished the promise, covering one eye with one of their hands that was shaped like a paw.

Angel took in a deep breath, a light blush on her cheeks, before she finished her answer. "You most likely know more about this guy than I do, hell, I don't even know his name, but about three years ago, I saw him. He was out at my house by my dad's master's father. When he finished whatever he was doing, he looked right at me with the lime green eyes all reapers have. Call me a crazy stalker that believes in that love-at-first-sight bull, but we made a connection when he looked at me like that. After that, he ran and I followed him back to the facility disguised as a dog. I've been visiting the facility ever since, trying to know more about him. I saw you and your uncles come out, along with some reaper with red hair you call 'mom' all the time...is that really a...?"

"Yes, my mom's a man." The reaper teen huffed out, bored with the constantly repeated question. "I'm the only girl in the reaper facility...maybe even in all of limbo." With that, she sighed. "I wouldn't know cause I never really saw much of limbo aside from the facility." Seeing Angel get quiet, Justine cleared her throat. "Off topic. Sorry." she apologized. "The reaper that came out to your house, what does he look like?" she asked. "Maybe I know him."

Instantly, the demon melted a little from the thought of the reaper in question. "He had the green eyes that all reapers have, big black glasses, black gloves, and short blond hair with a black hair line in the bottom half of his hair...Now that I think about it, he really liked black..."

"All the reapers wear black." Justine answered quickly as she matched faces with names in her head. Not long after she started, she grinned mischievously "You're talking about Ronald Knox." she stated with a wide smile on her lips. "He sometimes subs for my class when my uncle and mom have to do overtime."

"So, since we're talking about each other's personal lives (finally), you never exactly told me if you have a boyfriend. You now know I like Ronald, what about you?" Angel stated, quickly switching the spotlight.

Justine sighed dreamily as she thought of her boyfriend. "My boyfriend is a guy that works with my dad. He's cute, funny, sweet, mega ultra-strong for a human, and just fun to be around."

"What's his name?" Angel asked.

The reaper blushed a little before giggling, "Finnie." The other teen smiled softly. "He's nowhere near perfect, I mean, he's a gardener that is too strong to care for even daisies properly, but...he can't be more perfect for me." After shaking herself out of her dreamy state, the reaper looked back at the demon, now both sitting on the wooden bench in the cabin. "I have to go back to the reaper classes next week. Do you want to meet Ronald face to face, or not?"

**. . .**

The whole week, Angel made excuses to not go, weather it'd be that she was swamped with chores, or that her father was in a bad mood, making it dangerous to ask if she could leave, until that Friday afternoon when she finally came out of her home and in limbo.

Justine walked out of the training facility, double checking to be sure she had everything in her bag before looking around for her father just like every other Friday. Oddly, instead of finding the tall parent in black, her eyes drifted over to a bush nearby. She made her way to the bush cautiously furrowing her brows before she slumped in irritation, seeing who it was. "Angel, you've been hiding back there for three years, and then you refused to come here all week to avoid Ronald! When are you going to get out from behind there? Do you even want to meet him?"

The girl in the bushes poked her head from the leaves with some twigs sticking out from her rats nest hair. "Um...of course I do..." she answered. "I just don't know if he'll want to talk to a demon like me..."

To this, Justine face palmed before she smiled warmly at her, reaching her over the bush, lightly pulling her out. "Don't be ridiculous! He's going to love you!" The reaper looked back and smiled. "See? Here he comes now."

"Meep!" Angel squeaked as she dived back in the bush against Justine's attempt to keep her over the greenery.

Ronald looked up with a big smile plastered on his face, his big green eyes shining brightly to complement his smile perfectly. "Hey, Justine! If you see your mom, tell her to give me that paid vacation he promised soon!" he called, his lawnmower being dragged behind him as he used it as a mobile arm rest.

With a smile, the teen reaper unnoticeably scooted over to hide the shaking bush. "Don't worry Ronald; I'll pass on the message."

The blonde tried to see what she was hiding but shrugged. "Thanks." he stated before walking off, pushing his scythe as he went.

Behind the reaper girl, Angel made a feeble attempt to leave before Justine snagged her coat and yanked her back. "Oh no you don't." she stated sternly.

Angel took back her coat and straightened it, clearly annoyed. "I'm a spineless jellyfish!" she exclaimed before drastically lowering the volume in her tone from shock at how loud she was. "I can't do anything without being embarrassed, let alone talk to guys."

"Come on! You're a dog demon for crying out loud!" the reaper sighed. "Last I checked dogs almost always get what they want!"

"Well, yeah they do...but not this dog..." the demon gestured to herself. "...this dog is a coward." she admitted. "I've always been a little timid around guys."

"Well, that was before you had me as a friend!" the reaper stated happily before snagging her friend's wrist and pulling her away. "Come on!"

Much to the dog's dismay, Justine dragged her to an ice cream parlor where there was a single customer in the whole sweets bar. "Justine...what are we doing here…in December no less?" Angel asked, dripping in fear. "What do you have planned?" With a smirk, the teen reaper pointed to the lone customer. It was then when the dog demon noticed the business suit, blond and black hair, and cow lick as the man slurped his chocolate milkshake. Suddenly, Angel's face went tomato red. "...You can't be serious...!" she exclaimed before Justine pulled her to the bar.

With a smile, the reaper smacked the counter to gain the bar tender's attention. "Two vanilla sundae's with extra nuts! You mind, Fred?" she called.

"No prob Justine!" the tender stated as he handed the girls their ice cream.

Angel picked at the ice cream as she used her hair and hand to hide her face from the reaper as she sank her head in the popped up collar of her black coat. Even with her coat to cover the bottom half of her face and her hair to cover the top half, she still felt the need to pray to whoever it was that was in control of this situation, "don'tnoticeme!don'tnoticeme!don'tnoticeme!don'tnoticeme!..."

Hearing her friend so distressed, Justine looked up at the man with a large smile and stood to successfully gain his attention. "HEY! RONALD!" she called, waving at him as he looked up at her with a smile, standing with his milkshake as he made his way to the teens down the bar. "What a coincidence we bump into each other in a place like this!"

Watching this unfold with shock filled eyes, Angel banged her hand on the counter before snapping a glare at Justine with her golden brown eyes. "I'm gonna kill you." she growled.

Ronald smiled as he sat with them, Angel sitting right in the middle. "Justine, you know I always come here after my shift. I thought you'd be with your dad by now. Where's the Big Bad Black Crow?"

"He didn't show up after class." Justine answered nonchalantly. "I'll go back to the facility to see if he's there after a quick sundae. I'm sure he won't mind."

After a moment the young man noticed the distressed demon sweating bullets. "Who's your friend?"

Angel tried to speak, so Justine made introductions for her. "This," she started, smacking her friend's shoulder and pushing her toward the reaper man a little. "is Angel, she wanted to talk to you about something, but was too shy at first. I just had to give her a little..." She removed her hand and used a full force push behind her, causing Angel to fall face first into Ronald's chest. The impact forced blushes on both Ronald's and Angel's faces (well, Angel more than Ronald). "nudge."

Seeing how close they were to each other, Ronald tried to hide his light pink blush as Angel scrambled back and sat tense and straight. "H-hi Angel." he greeted before taking a good look at her. "You look...I don't know...familiar... Have we met?"

"U-uhh... N-nope, never met." Angel answered quickly with a nervous chuckle as she shrank in her coat.

The reaper wasn't convinced. "...No...I know you from somewhere..." he stated in determination, thinking very hard on the subject. Weather that determination was for figuring out where he'd seen her before or for distracting himself to rid himself from his blush, the girls were unsure.

Knowing that there was no more she could do, Justine left with her ice cream, whispering with a smirk, "Good luck." Angel tried to stop her from leaving, but it proved to be hopeless; all that was left of her friend was some money to pay for the ice cream that floated down to the counter.

As Angel picked at her ice cream a little more, Ronald smiled widely in eureka. "I DO know you!"

"F-from w-where...?" the demon snapped, bypassing bullets and now sweating boulders.

"You're the girl who's been trying to find her dog in those bushes by the facility for the past three years!" he concluded.

Angel tried not to laugh at the ridiculous notion as she finally relaxed her muscles and took her first bite from her frozen treat. "N-not exactly..." she giggled.

The reaper looked at her confused, scratching his chin in thought. "Really? But, you're always rustling around in there, muttering to yourself stuff like, 'Where is he?'"

The demon perked up upon hearing this, her blush now returned to her face and growing darker. "Y-you hear me say t-that..?" she stuttered.

Ronald's blush grew deeper as he bit his lip. _She probably thinks that I've been stalking her for three years. _he concluded. _Ever since I started seeing her in those bushes three years ago...boy was she always cute...Hold it! Keep your cool Ronald! One step at a time._ "...Yes." he answered. After some silence, he looked up at her and smiled. "If you want, I could help you look for your dog, what's his name?"

Angel sunk in her shoulders, embarrassment of the conversation hitting her, before mumbling, "...I wasn't looking for a lost dog." With Ronald arching a brow at her, Angel's voice grew softer and shyer. "...I was looking for...y-you..."

Ronald's blush grew from red to near purple at how ridiculous his assumption was now that he knew the truth. "...O-oh..." was all he could utter.

After some more silence, he noticed the containers of ice cream now only held colorful goo, so he called the tender. "Hey, Fred! Can you get me another milkshake? This time with an extra straw." The new order was filled in mere seconds as he put the two straws in the ice cream and pointed the second straw to the red girl next to him. "I hope you like chocolate..." he smiled, already starting to sip at the creamy delight.

The demon bit her lip and shut her eyes tight in a failed attempt to keep her blush at bay before she felt something pop from the top of her head and extend out her spine. The reaper looked at the new extensions with wide eyes at first, before he smiled and released his child-like laughter. "I've always loved dogs!" he exclaimed, scratching behind Angel's new, large, pointed ear of a German Shepard.

As the dog started to wag her fluffy brown and black tail, she didn't notice the girl with growing black cat ears and long, black, thin cat tail peek through the window with glowing green eyes. Justine gave a cat smirk as she strolled off, completing her cat transformation as she leapt down the side walk with her small, strong feline legs. "My work here is done." she purred to herself before leaping on fences and gliding through the night streets to rejoin her father, who was starting to worry and wonder where she was so late.

Back in the ice cream bar, Ronald cleared his throat embarrassingly. "Hey, Angel, you doing anything tonight?" he asked.

Angel looked up from the milkshake, now much more comfortable around the reaper. "No, why?"

The young man smiled as his blush started coming back and he scratched the back of his head. "I-I was wondering...if you wanted to, that is...if you would...go with me to the park. It's really pretty after dark, when all the stars come out, and the lights come on, it really is pretty..."

The teen girl blushed a little and smiled. "Sure."


	5. Chapter 5

After they finished their ice cream, Ronald and Angel left for the park, hand in hand. Little did they know of the glowing pink eyes that watched them from the shadows.

"So, a dog demon, hu?" Ronald asked with a small chuckle after Angel explained not only who she was, but what she was. "I guess that explains why I thought you were looking for your dog in the bush."

Angel nodded with a little blush. "Y-yeah."

After walking around some more, the reaper turned back to his date, determined to rid the air of the awkward atmosphere. "So, if you're a demon, what's your special power?" Seeing the girl look away shyly, the young man groaned playfully with a little chuckle, poking her sides and earning a giggle. "C'mon. Don't all demons have a special super power?"

"Uh...well..."

"There you are!" came an all too familiar voice, causing the two to freeze and look around to search for the new voice. When the couple looked over, they saw a tall man in a long black tail coat and small, silver square glasses that reflected his golden yellow eyes, framed by his shoulder length, black hair of soft waves and lose curls.

"DAD!" Angel squealed, pushing Ronald off of her and to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Who's he?" Claude asked, jabbing a finger to point at the reaper.

Angel blushed in embarrassment. "Dad, this is Ronald, my...friend."

The spider demon crossed his arms disbelieving. "You two looked more than just friendly from where I stood."

"DAD!"

Ronald stood there, confused as to what to do before he leaned over to the girl. "...That's your dad?" he asked as she nodded. "And he's a-a...demon too?"

"Yes, I am, Grim Reaper." Claude answered for her through gritted teeth before grabbing her arm in a stone hard, arm suffocating grip, yanking her away. "We're leaving."

"But dad!" Angel protested, trying to fight the hand on her wrist until another hand held her other arm and torso.

When she looked over, she saw Ronald holding her and pulling against Claude. "Let go of her!"

"What are you doing?!" came another voice, causing Angel to freeze in place in shock.

The three looked over to see another tall man in a tail coat, glasses, and yellow gold eyes. "...Dad?" she called.

To this, poor Ronald was beyond confused and jaw dropped. "W-wait a second..." he stated, trying to put the pieces together with what he figured out. "If that guy," he pointed to the man currently approaching the couple, "is your dad," he moved his gesture to the man hanging on Angel's other arm, "then who's that guy?!"

Angel sighed and flicked her wrist. Within seconds, the man at her arm disappeared in a cloud of gold and black dust. "...A dummy." she answered as the real Claude Faustus came over and crossed his arms, tapping his foot like all parents do when expecting an explanation.

"Angel, who is this man?" Claude asked.

"Dad, this is Ronald." she repeated introductions. "He's just a friend."

Poor Ronald was still trying to piece the puzzle together and get over the shock. "...Wait, what exactly just happened?"

Angel shrugged. "In a way, I answered your question." she stated. "I can give the illusion that something is happening, when in reality, it's not. I also make dummies that think and act the same way as the real thing, but still aren't the real thing, just like that dummy of my dad wanting to take me away." She then turned to Claude. "...I'm guessing you want to take me home too?"

Claude looked down at his daughter for a moment with gradually softening eyes before looking up at Ronald and returning his gaze to Angel. "...A reaper?" he sighed as the dog nodded. He looked back up at the reaper and said sternly, "Bring her to the Trancy Estate at nine thirty, not a second later."

Ronald smiled and stood straight. "I will sir." he promised before the spider sighed and dismissed them.

As the couple walked away in the moon light, arm in arm, Angel's head on Ronald's shoulder, Claude's gaze softened as he dropped his arms to his sides, giving off a small smile. "...My little puppy...is growing up."

The two teens met in the club house yet again not even a month later. "So?" Justine smiled.

Angel looked at her friend in confusion, packing the Christmas things in a box. "...What?"

"What's going on between you and Ronald?" the reaper specified. "I haven't seen that guy happier since my mom and uncle gave him a raise. I also noticed you started going to that ice cream bar, like, every day."

To this, the demon shrugged. "Nothing super interesting." she admitted. "We've just been going to that ice cream place every once in a while, and having walks in the park. We just talk."

"You think you guys'll be more than...friend zoned?"

The dog smiled and huffed out a chuckle. "That seems to be what my dad thinks. What about your dad? You never said what he thinks of your boyfriend, or anything about him for that matter." All happy-go-lucky feelings were thrown out the window the moment parents were mentioned. "Come on." The demon girl insisted teasingly. "I'll talk about mine if you talk about yours."

Justine sighed before she answered. "Fine. There's not that much to tell. My dad didn't really approve of Finnie being my boyfriend at first, but then again, what father does?...I'm not sure what else there is _to _say. He's just...a guy that's working as a butler for Earl Phantomhive."

"...Phantomhive?" she asked as Justine nodded. After a moment of thought, Angel dismissed her idea and took in a deep breath. "My dad's in a similar bind." she chuckled. "Of course, my dad's a demon and yours is..."

"Not your dad." the reaper stated.

Angel sighed. "...Not my dad." she repeated. "My dad's a butler too. He drives me nuts sometimes, with all his spider references. He's a spider demon, he keeps spiders in the manner, even his new brat is known as 'The Queen's Spider'. The Stupid Spider Trancy."

"...Trancy?" Justine asked as Angel nodded. "...I feel like I've heard that name before..." The reaper wracked her brain on what was so important about the name Trancy.

The dog demon shrugged uncaringly. "Well, it's probably nothing."

"...Yeah..."

**. . .**

When Angel returned home that night, she let her mind wander as she wandered the estate. "Something I can help you with?" someone asked, entering the room she was currently in.

The teen was startled before she saw who it was and sighed in relief. The woman beside her was only a few inches taller than herself with dark skin that contrasted with her long, silvery white braid down her back. Over her left eye was a tightly wrapped bandage as her right eye was free for all other eyes to see the beautiful sea blue color. Her deep purple dress was covered by a white apron with the indigo ribbons holding it together in tight bows around her waist and her neck. "Hey Hannah."

"What's wrong?" the demonic maid asked.

She looked up at the demon maid before she turned away. "I told you about Justine, right?" Hannah nodded. "And you remember this is just between us? My dad doesn't hear about this?"

"Yes. Claude does not and will not hear about your friend from me."

Angel was silent for a moment. "...Justine has everything. She has a dad who actually loves her, a mom that cares about her, uncles that care too, and I don't have any of that."

"Your father loves you." Hannah reassured, looking straight into the golden brown eyes with her blue orbs. "With all his heart, he does."

"He has a funny way of showing it." she grumbled, averting her eyes.

"You also have me." the maid stated, gently tucking the teens hair behind her ear. "I love you, as if you were my own daughter." With that she hugged her as another thought came into Angel's mind...she never knew her birth mother, nor anything about her.

Later that night, after Alois was fast asleep, Angel came up to Claude, biting her lip in anxiety. She hasn't asked about her mother in centuries, since she was just a little girl. Now, here she was with more questions that she was unsure whether her father was willing to answer or not. "...Dad," she called, causing him to turn around and face her.

"Yes Angel?" he asked, facing her fully.

"...Can you tell me what mom was like?"

Instantly, Claude's eyes widened and one could easily tell he was shocked and caught off guard from the question, his ability to answer this question hadn't improved over the years. "...Why do you ask?" It was obvious he was trying to stay calm.

"You never told me anything about her." she reasoned. "You never even told me if she was a demon, human, reaper, or even an ANGEL for all I know!"

The demon's eyes averted her as he sneered. "I told you precisely what you needed to know." he answered. "She was killed not long after you were born. Once I found out she died, I hunted you down and was your father ever since."

"So you're not my birth father?" she asked.

"Of course I'm your birth father!"

"Then why did you sound like I was adopted?"

"When your mother was pregnant with you, things were very complicated!" he exclaimed, starting to lose his closure, and making no attempt to pull himself together. "I couldn't be there when you were born, so your mother took care of you until the day she died. I knew of you, that you existed, so I took on the title of your father. Does that satisfy you?"

"No!" Angel exclaimed. "It doesn't!"

"Well, I'm sorry to say that it's all you'd hear from me on the subject." Claude informed, closing the conversation as he tensely left the room with a high head, shut eyes, and robot stiff movements.

The next day, Justine and Angel made their way through the forest, following the same path that led to their club house. Little did Justine know that Bardroy, a tall man with light blue eyes and short blond hair that barely reached the popped, white collar on his chief uniform, was watching as she disappeared in the trees. "I should tell somebody." he whispered to himself. "Justine's been going over there for a few months now...I wonder if Sebastian knows...she _is_ his daughter after all." With that, he silently followed her through the thick trees, which only grew denser as he went further down the path.

When the girls made it to the club house, Justine noticed something off about her friend. "What's up pup?" she asked as she closed the door behind her, not noticing the blonde chief peeking in the window. "You seem kinda down."

"It's my stupid dad." she complained, plopping on the bench after throwing sticks in the fire pit. "He won't tell me ANYTHING about my mom! It's like she did something so unspeakably horrible to him that he can't even tell me her name! I HATE IT in that stupid mansion!"

The reaper felt fairly helpless to her troubled friend. "Why not talk to someone else? I'm sure your dad's not the only one that lives in the Trancy Estate."

"...Trancy's?" Bard breathed to himself.

"Besides," Justine continued. "Who does your dad think he is?"

"Claude Faustus." Angel answered distastefully. "The biggest douche ever."

"...Claude...Claude..." Bard repeated in his head. "...That name sounds familiar."

"Claude Faustus?!" Justine exclaimed. "THAT'S your dad?!"

Angel looked at her confused. "Yeah, why?"

"...My dad is Sebastian Michaelis." the reaper explained.

The other demon looked at her sideways. "You're dad's Sebastian Michaelis?" Justine nodded as Angel sucked her teeth with a smirk. "1,648 years, and I've never even heard of a Demon Reaper."

"We're getting off the subject!"

"Sorry."

After some silence, the demon reaper bit her lip. "My dad said some really...unkind...things about your dad."

To this, the Feastus demon chuckled. "I have no doubt any of that's not true." The cook backed away from the window as quietly as he could before he bolted down the path. "Well, our dads are, like, mortal enemies." she summed up. "What do we do now?"

The question hit Justine like a ton of bricks that fell from the sky square on top of her head. "I...don't know." she answered truthfully. "One thing's for sure, this is just all the more reason we should keep this a secret from our parents."

"Right." Angel agreed without a second's hesitation. "But most importantly," she added. "we stay friends."

"Of course." the reaper nodded. "We stay honest,"

"Loyal,"

"And, of course, stay together." they both completed with a smile before crossing their hearts and covering their eyes with their paw hands.

"We stay friends," Justine stated before they both opened their mouths and completed the thought.

"Forever."


	6. Chapter 6

Once Bardroy made it back to the manner, he didn't hesitate to tell Sebastian everything he heard. The butler took in a deep breath before he responded to Bard's update. "How long did you say she's been sneaking out?" he asked.

"I've been seeing her go in the forest for a few months now." Bardroy answered. "I'm not sure how long she's known her friend."

"And you're SURE you heard the name of the other girl's father correctly?"

Bard nodded. "Yup, Claude Feastus, the Trancy butler."

Sebastian sneered in disgust before he stormed out of the manner, huffing out a quick, "Take care of the master while I'm gone." before disappearing into the woods.

It wasn't long at all before Sebastian made it to the Trancy Estate and knocked on the door. When the large door opened to reveal the golden eyes and wavy black hair that could only belong to Claude Feastus himself, Sebastian couldn't help himself from raising his hand and punching him across the face with all his strength before he had the chance to say, "How may I help you this afternoon?"

"You and your little MUTT better stay AWAY from my kitten." Sebastian growled.

"I assure you, I don't know what you're talking about." Claude stated, taking off his now crocked glasses and fiddling with them in his gloved hands.

"Bardroy told me everything." he stated. "He followed a path which only humans and the creators of the path can follow. He saw your daughter poisoning my daughter's mind."

"Accuse me all you'd like," the Trancy butler sighed, placing his glasses on his face again. "It still doesn't change the fact that I have no knowledge of these meetings. All I can promise you is that I'll talk to my daughter about it; explain to her who is good company and who is not." At Sebastian's silence, Claude continued. "Sugar into Salt, Secrets into Common Knowledge, Blindness into Sight. That's what makes a Trancy Butler."

Sebastian sighed heavily before looking at him. "A father can say what he likes, but at the end of the day, we are simply our children's guides. As much as we'd like to call them puppies and kittens, they are truly most like spiders; the harder you try to separate them from something the more they tend to cling to it. It still does not mean we won't guide them away from each other."

"This is a historic day." Claude smiled slightly. "Something we both agree on that fully benefits us both."

Just before Sebastian left, he turned to Claude. "Sorry about punching you, it was very uncivilized of me." he stated with a deceptively sweet smile. "Some ice should sooth it nicely." With that, he descended in the forest to return to his own manner.

Claude just gazed over the gardens that separated the manner from the mass of trees as he slipped the white glove from his black nailed hand and lightly touched his bruised face. Seeing Angel come out of the forest and drag herself over the lush green grass, the father pulled the glove back on his hand, stretching his fingers to get them comfortable in the cloth as the daughter lugged herself past the grand threshold, hanging her arms and head down in front of her. "Hey dad." she groaned, dragging her feet past him and up the stairs.

"Angel!" Claude called, still standing high and slightly intimidating. "We need to talk."

"Dad, it was a long hike to get here, and-"

"I know about Sebastian's daughter." Just like that, Angel's eyes shot wide open and she gazed into the golden eyes she's seen throughout her life. "I know you've been conversing with her, becoming close to her, gaining her trust."

"...How?" the teen asked in a low, serious tone as she furrowed her brows.

"Does it matter how I know?" he asked right back. "I know she's been telling you her secrets, her father's weakness', secrets of great value which she trusts to few others."

Angel looked baffled. "No!" she exclaimed. "She never told me anything like that; she hasn't even started talking about her dad until earlier _today_! Even if she did, I wouldn't tell you! Not now, not EVER! Why do you always have to be so cruel?!" With that said, she marched up the steps.

"Angel!" Claude snapped before the teen had enough running on her two sore feet and shifted into her Shepard form, bolting down the hall, essentially out running her father. When she made it to her room, she shifted back into her human form and slammed the door shut. Claude made it to her bedroom door just in time to hear the clicking of locks.

**. . .**

Sebastian made it back to the Phantomhive manner in time to see Justine helping Meyrin polish the rail on the stairs. The maid of the estate who wore a navy blue dress with a white, frilly apron and a white bonnet on top of her head that attempted to tame her wild, crimson pigtails that crazily and messily framed her large, round glasses, which oddly always find themselves in a glare that hid her true eye color.

Without warning, the butler snatched Justine's arm in a death grip and dragged her down the steps with many yelps of pain and protest against the action. "Ow! Dad! What's going on?!" she shouted in confusion.

"You want to know what's going on?" he asked through gritted teeth before throwing Justine to the wall roughly. "You've been talking to Claude's daughter."

"What?!"

"You've been going behind my back, telling her everything!"

"No I haven't!"

"Well, you're NEVER going to see that mutt again!" Justine was silent in shock from Sebastian's rash, conclusion jumping words. "Anyone associated with the Trancy's are bad friends to have. You'd be better off with no friends at all."

"...What?" Justine asked, still too shocked and baffled to say much else. "Just because I have one 'bad friend', you think I should give up on having friends at all?"

"Not just one bad friend." the father explained furiously. "Your mother told me you've been slipping behind in Reaper Training classes. I might not approve to you being a Grim Reaper, but still. Slacking is slacking."

"Dad, I-"

"You are not to leave my sight, William's, Undertaker's, or your mother's, until further notice."

"DAD!" she whined, but she knew it was too late. The damage was already done. For the first time in 600 years, she was grounded for something as innocent as having a friend.

When Sebastian said that his daughter would be under super vision at all times, he wasn't joking. He spread it to Grell, William, and even Undertaker that Justine was grounded.

Every time she even reached in her pocket in class, William would snatch her wrist with his tree cutter only to find that she would only be pulling out a pencil. If she even touched a door in the Undertaker's, even if it was a door to a coffin, Undertaker would ask her where she was going. The moment she'd even walk away from Sebastian, he'd follow her, even despite his master's protests against it. As soon as she'd leave Grell's line of sight, he'd throw his chainsaw to land directly in front of her, blocking her path.

All in all, Justine was living in hell.

Angel, on the other hand, was living a completely different hell.

She had to lock herself in her room day and night to avoid being questioned by Claude on how Michaelis' worked. Despite her efforts to avoid being questioned, Claude still came to the door, bribing her to come out and talk about her friend in exchange for fresh air, a young, knocked out soul with no more desires (mostly because it was usually a baby orphan who didn't live long enough to HAVE desires), and/or clean water. Though she was able to go with hardly any food, water, and no play time, her room was causing her to go crazy from boredom and loneliness.

After Hannah heard that Claude found out about everything, she pleaded innocent to Angel, claiming she never told him, she had nothing to gain. Of course, the teen never believed her and just sat in her room day in and day out. Still, she knew she couldn't wait everything out for the rest of her eternal life.

Weeks passed, and the two teens hadn't seen each other since their promise to stay friends. True, they still considered themselves as friends, but with weeks away from one another, they began to forget little things about one another.

One bright, sunny day, Justine wandered London with Sebastian and the young master they were bound by servitude; his name, Ciel Phantomhive. The boy's black hair had an odd blue hint to it in the light under his black top hat. The black eye patch over his left eye was hidden in his mess of hair as he walked the streets. His right deep ocean blue eye watched critically where he was going as his scrawny, thin arms swung out from under his dark blue cloak, opening it just enough to allow others to see his blue suit, and shorts over his black boots.

As they walked in their small trio, it was painfully obvious she was the butler's daughter from how he kept her in his line of sight at all times. One man in particular saw Justine huffing and stomping in anger. The man was prone to overreact. "Such a beautiful maiden, trapped within the clutches of her beastly master. Fear not, my beauty; I shall save you in armor that shines as brightly as my eternal love for you!" Just like that, he started sneaking by.

"Dad," Justine sighed. "can I run in that store and get that hat? I've been saving my money for, like, ever!"

Sebastian glanced at the store she referred to and thought for a moment before smiling at Ciel. "Master, is it alright if we stay out here so I may watch my daughter through the window?"

"Fine. We're not in a hurry anyway." the master stated in boredom. Justine smiled and hugged her father before weaving through the crowd.

She was just about to pay for the hat she so much wanted before a man turned her around. This new face had long light blond hair and slanted purple eyes. As she looked him over, she noticed that either this guy was an angel, or this guy just really liked the white and purple combo.

He ran one of his gloved hands through her dark hair. "My, my, little kitten, why ever would you buy that hat?" he asked in a rude tone, but his voice hypnotized the teen in a way. "This is a hat that suits you much better." he stated, pulling out a hat twice the price.

Justine bit her lip and backed away. "No thank you." she stated. "I can't afford that one."

"No need!" the mystery man stated with a smile before giving the cashier the money needed for the hat in his hand.

Justine eyed the hat the stranger held before smiling oddly. "I couldn't possibly accept this Mr..."

"Chamber." he finished for her with a small bow. "Aleister Chamber, the Viscount Druitt."

"...Mr. Chamber," she repeated before clearing her throat. "I appreciate the thought, but I simply couldn't accept it."

"Of course you can." he insisted, placing the hat on her head and turning her to a mirror. "See? You already look much better." As Justine gazed at her reflection, Aleister leaned in and smiled. "I'm fairly new to this side of London. Would you do me the honor of showing me around?"

Her green gaze flashed to the window Sebastian stood behind as his own red eyes glanced at passing people before returning to her in the crowd. "...You see, the thing is that my father is waiting for me just outside, and I need to get back to him."

"At least allow me to see to it that you have a proper dress to go with your new hat. It's the least a gentleman could do for a lovely little kitten such as yourself." Without warning, Aleister snatched her arm and pulled her to a back room.

When Justine took in a sniff of the room she was guided to, she started to feel a little dizzy. "Do you smell something?" she asked. "It almost smells like knock…out…gas…" And she was out.

"Your senses are very acute, fair kitten." he smiled, picking up Justine and carrying her out the back way. "I sprayed a fair amount of perfume in there so you wouldn't smell the knock out gas. Applause to your heightened sense of smell."


	7. Chapter 7

Sebastian narrowed his eyes in worry as he scanned the crowd. He couldn't understand what took Justine so long to come out of the store. "...Master," he stated with slight worry showing. "may we enter that store? Just to be certain that Justine is alright."

"If you must, then I understand." Ciel sighed before taking the lead in the shop.

The two entered, looking around in the crowd before an overly happy woman showed up from nowhere. From her plain attire, they assumed she was an employee. "May I help you two boys with something?"

"I'm looking for my daughter." Sebastian explained before Ciel had the chance to get out a sound. "Have you seen her? She's about this tall, reddish brown hair about this long, blueish green eyes, purple glasses, was wearing a red shirt and black sweater and pants when she entered here," He continued the description as the woman smiled and nodded.

"I've seen her." she said happily. "She was headed over there with someone."

"Do you know who?" he asked hurriedly.

"Of course I do~! Who doesn't know the Viscount Druitt? Poor thing was being dragged off. Never saw her come out, maybe they're still in there."

"Thank you." the butler said in a hurry before he sprinted in the direction the woman pointed him in.

As he approached the door, Ciel rushing to catch up, he sniffed the air and stopped the young master from coming any closer. "What is it?" he asked.

"This room is highly polluted in knock out gas." Sebastian warned, an edge of worry in his tone as his breathing quickened.

To this, the boy Earl was confused. "Aren't demons immune to knock out gas or something?"

The demon looked down at the boy, not changing his expression of worry. "Demons build up immunity to everything just like humans evolution. I, myself, wasn't immune to this gas until I was a little younger than Justine, and it still gives me headaches if I indulge in it. This room is over flowing in it."

The young Earl tilted his head in thought. "If we are truly against Druitt in this, then we need help."

"Who better to ask than the mother?" Sebastian smiled as he finally relaxed at the thought of ending this plot just as quickly as he usually does (because that would make this story short and boring, let's mix it up a little).

**. . .**

"Sorry, can't." Grell sighed nonchalantly as he flipped through a book titled 'Tom Brooks Lambert' lazily when the two came to him for help and already explained the situation.

"Justine is your daughter too!" Ciel shouted loud enough to cause an echo in the library filled with books on every being on the planet as they all simultaneously updated themselves and reapers around the large, grand room looked over the written lives of their targets. "You're her **mother**!"

"I'm also a reaper." the reaper in red added shamefully, snapping the book shut and placing it down before uncrossing his legs and standing, using his arms to exaggerate his words as he approached his ex-husband and the young noble. "Though I am burning in anger and worry, Will already tied my hands in this matter. He laid down the neutral law, I can't intervene."

With that, Grell was pulled away by William's snapping scythe as the short haired reaper stated quickly and efficiently, "So sorry for Justine. We'll keep a watchful eye out, and that's all we can do for now."

Sebastian stayed silent, sulking in the corner uncharacteristically. In the glowing white room, the corner the crow laid in fetal position was growing dark in his unidentifiable shadow that spread up to the top of the book selves and out across the rows of varying sized books based on how long the people lived. To this point, as the Phantomhive watched his butler, he started to grow afraid of this new, changed, not exactly improved Sebastian Michaelis. "Sebastian! I order you, STOP SULKING ALREADY!"

The butler turned to Ciel and nodded, brushing away any leaking fluids from his bold red puffy eyes as he sniffed. "Y-yes my Lord." he said shakily, slowly getting to his feet and struggling to stand straight as he let his face go numb. If he can't show an expression that is helpful to his master, then why should he show an expression at all?

"I don't like this...this...parent side of you. Quite honestly, it scares me, makes me wonder if you can do your job correctly at all being a full time butler AND father. I pray you prove me wrong; I rather enjoy Justine's company." Sebastian took in a silent, shaky breath before Ciel asked, "There has to be someone else who can help."

The demon glanced at the Earl. "...There is one other option, but...you might not like it young master. I don't exactly care much for this idea myself." he informed, mumbling the last part to himself.

Ciel slouched his shoulders and sighed. "If it gets you to stop being so emotional, then I don't care."

"It would be wiser to go home and send them a letter instead of confronting them directly." Sebastian stated, already beginning to head to the Phantomhive manner.

"Why is that?" the boy Earl asked, walking side by side with the now expressionless servant.

"...I struck their butler not too long ago; they might interpret it as an attack rather than a request for help."

**. . .**

At the Trancy Estate, Angel was still waiting out her father from requesting her knowledge as well as Hannah's empty pleas of innocence. She was simply painting on her easel when there was a knock at the door. "Forget it dad!" she called with a sigh. "I'm not talking, and you can't make me!"

"I'm not here for that this time!" Claude called on the other side of the door. "I came here to give you your mail."

After a moment of silence, several clicks and bolts were heard before the knob turned and a golden brown eye peeked out. "...I have...mail?" Claude nodded as he revealed the envelope. In the top corner of the sealed paper, it read, 'Angel B. Feastus, Trancy Manner', and sealing the envelope was the waxy seal of the Phantomhive symbol.

Quickly, Angel snatched the envelope and shut the door as all the locks were pushed back in place. Claude just gaped at the action as he simply stood there. "Do you plan on hiding in there forever?"

"Yup!" the teen called back as she ripped open the envelope and read the note. What was inside the letter made her want to change her answer.

'Ms. Feastus,

I, Ciel Phantomhive, Earl of the Phantomhive manner, request that you assist me and my butler, Sebastian Michaelis, recover his missing daughter, Justine S. Michaelis. We want nothing more than her safe return, and we believe you wish for that as well.

If you succeed in your assistance and aid, you will be duly rewarded with whatever you would like that is within my power.

-Ciel Phantomhive, son of Vincent'

After reading the letter several times, she finally understood what was going on. Her friend was missing, now she was being asked to help by the very demon who her father spoke ill of since she was just a little puppy. Slowly, she unlocked every bolt and chain that connected the door to the frame, opening it slightly to see Claude still standing in the hall. "...I'm only coming out to help Ciel and Sebastian."

The whole march down the Trancy steps, Angel's teeth were set on edge from Claude rushing to follow her as she hastily buttoned her black coat and tightened the purple pin on her black tie. "Angel! Think about this for a moment!"

"What's there to think ABOUT?" she asked right back. "Justine is my friend."

"I understand that, but-"

"I doubt that!" she laughed as she approached the door, securing her white gloves on her hands. "You? Understand friends? That's a laugh."

Her gloved hand reached for the door knob that lead to the front garden as her father's eyes widened and his voice got stern. "Angel! If you walk out that door, then-"

"Then what?" she shouted. "You'll lock me in my room? You'll restrict my food, water, and fresh air? What could you possibly put me through that I haven't been through already?"

"I'm coming with you!"

Angel froze, her hand tense on the knob just as it turned and the door cracked open. "...What?" The teen couldn't believe her ears as she slipped her hand from the door and turned back to look at the spider.

With a sigh, Claude got down on one knee and placed his right hand over his heart as his daughter widened her eyes in disbelief at his bow. "I am a butler, but I won't be one forever. Most importantly, I'm your father, and always will be."

The teen smiled as she knelt with him, unfolding his arms and glomping him in a hug. "...Salt into Sugar...Hate into Love...Housemates into Family...That's what makes a Feastus Demon." Angel recited as the two just stayed there and hugged each other tightly. For the first time in far too long, they actually openly admitted that they were family, and they cared for one another.

Sadly, the family bonding moment had to end as they left the manner together and made their way to the Phantomhive Estate, where it was awkward to say the least. It was strange for Angel to see another butler, much less Sebastian Michaelis himself, serve her and her father tea. "...I...hope you like Earl Grey..."

"Thank you." Angel thanked as she sipped the tea awkwardly and set it down. Claude didn't touch the small cup on the saucer that steamed from the light brown refreshment inside.

After another awkward silence, Ciel cleared his throat. "I trust you both understand why we sent the letter to you?"

"You sent it to me because I'm Justine's friend, and have been for months now." Angel answered.

"I'm here to protect my daughter, that's all." Claude stated, earning a glare from Sebastian before the crow quickly recomposed himself and continued to serve the cake to at least the boy master; he offered it to the 'guests', but they refused.

More silence passed before the boy Earl sighed in a business tone, regaining the attention of the three demons. "Our target is Aleister Chamber, the Viscount Druitt, he is our kidnapper."

"What makes you so sure?" Claude asked. "What evidence do you have?"

"The woman who saw Justine last said that she was with the Viscount before she disappeared." the Phantomhive boy answered. "Also, the room we were told Justine was brought into was filled to the brim with a knock out gas of a very specific kind, one of which I, myself, have fallen victim to before when it was at Aleister's hand."

Angel nodded in understanding. "Okay! What's the plan?"

"Our plan is to actually use you as bait." Sebastian explained, refilling her tea cup. "While Druitt is distracted by you, the master and I will search the property. All you'd have to do is to not leave your spot, and keep him occupied."

"Not going to happen!" Claude shouted. "I will NOT allow my daughter to be in the face of danger while-"

"What all do I need to do?" the teen asked, disregarding Claude's protest.

The spider demon looked at his daughter in slight shock. "Angel, are you sure about this?" he asked. "Risking your safety? For a Michaelis, no less?"

When the teen nodded, Sebastian smiled a little. "Thank you for your cooperation." he stated with a small bow of his head.

**. . .**

Justine's head ached horribly. Her throat was dry and soar. Her vision was blocked by a black cloth. Her wrists and ankles were bruised and bleeding. Her bare feet were frozen in the icy water that pooled in the stones. Her back was painfully stiff from leaning against the stone wall for several minutes, hours, possibly days for all she knew, as she sat on the ground. She didn't know where she was, or how she got there, all she knew was what was already described until she heard a squeak followed by footsteps. "Are you comfortable, my little kitten?"

_That voice,_ she thought. _I could've sworn I've heard it somewhere...right. It was the last voice I heard before I got knocked out. Was he the one who knocked me out?_ She couldn't remember. Judging from how calm he sounded, most likely. "_You mean I'm not at a five start hotel? You could've fooled me._" she wanted to say, but oddly, all that came out were strange muffled sounds. It might've been from whatever was stuffed in her mouth to prevent her jaw from closing.

"I'm glad to hear that you are settled nicely." he laughed.

_What was this guy's problem? Couldn't he see that I'm not comfortable? Or even close?_ The cat demon leaned her head back and exhaled deeply. _Dad._ she mentally reached out. _Get me out of here._


	8. Chapter 8

Claude didn't like the idea when it was being bounced around back at the manner, but now he was looking at his daughter dressed up as live bait. With her long black dress with scattered purple flowers, as well as a flower in her brown hair, it was hard to believe she was the same person who refused to accept the title 'maid' simply so she could avoid the dress and apron with the frilly hat. On the carriage ride to their destination, he couldn't help but ask again. "Angel, are you sure about this?"

To this, the teen gave her father a miniature glare, gesturing to her attire. "If I wasn't sure, would I be wearing a DRESS right now?" she asked. "Justine is my friend, and friends stay loyal to each other. I have no doubt that if the situations were reverse, she'd do the same for me."

Sebastian smiled. "Perhaps I misjudged you." he stated.

Angel re-adjusted the flower in her hair with a smile and chuckle. "Salt into Sugar, Butler into Maiden, Suspicion into Trust, that's what makes a True Friend."

Seeing this, the crow demon narrowed his eyes at the girl. "...Like father, like daughter, I suppose."

As the carriage stopped to indicate that they arrived at the location, Claude couldn't help but ask yet again as he saw his daughter leave the carriage. "Angel, are you sure you want to do this? You can still turn back now, but once that door opens, there's not much I can do."

"Yes dad." the girl huffed. "I am completely sure I want to do this. For the last time, Justine is my FRIEND! Friends. Stay. Together."

Hearing this, the spider demon nodded before he started to shrink in the seat, his arms and legs becoming more stick-like as two more pairs of the same stick-like limbs grew from under his arms and out his hips. His eyes getting rounder and glossy black as more sets of eyes developed at his temples, cheeks, and at either side of his nose. At the corners of his lips, pinchers grew out sharply and eventually replaced his human lips all together. As he only grew smaller, small extensions of hair covered his skin. Angel's eyes steadily grew wider and her joints locked in place as she saw her father transform into a small spider on the seat. Angel groaned at the small, hairy, eight legged creature with furrowed brows. Her golden brown eyes widened in slight fear, knowing it was still her father, but still...a spider was right there. Claude looked up at her with his several beady black spider eyes as she extended a stiff hand to her father, on which the eight legged creature crawled on as quickly as he could. "You just don't give up, do you?" she asked, the edge in her voice showing her uneasiness, lifting Claude to her shoulder to hide somewhere in the ruffles on the collar of her dress.

"I know how much you don't like it when I do this, but at least this way, I could help you if you get in trouble." he stated in worry. "Besides, we're family. Family. Stays. Together." he added mockingly

Angel looked over at the exo-skeletal creature on her shoulder. If the pinchers allowed it, he would've smirked at the comeback to her excuse for wanting to go through with the plan. Still, he had no way of visually expressing the emotion he voiced for, so she just closed her eyes and tried hard to forget about the eight legs gliding over her shoulder and the sticky web that anchored Claude to her dress before letting a shiver run down her spine, deciding not to look at her father until he would turn back to his human form. One thing she couldn't decide was if her father would look more or less creepy if she was able to see him in sun light rather than moon and dim porch light that only extenuated the glossiness of his black eyes. "...You just do this to freak me out, don't you?"

Angel shifted her gaze to Sebastian and Ciel sneaking in through a window before knocking on the door. Druitt opened the door and smiled greedily at the girl that stood politely on the door step. "Now, what is a butterfly like you doing here so late at night?" he asked, leaning on one foot and clutching his chin in thought.

Angle curtsied politely. "Apologies for the intuition, sir, but I got lost out here while on a stroll with my father." she stated. "If you may allow me to see a map, or point me in the proper direction of River Thames, I would be ever grateful. That's where my father and I agreed to meet if we got lost."

The Viscount smiled. "Now, why would I do that? That would require me assuming you can find your way after I point you in the proper direction. It would be my honor to escort you to the river." he offered with a low, proper bow.

The teen smiled at the offer. "Thank you, but I don't want to be a bother."

"Nonsense!" Druitt smiled as he stood straight, leaving the doorway and making his way out in the darkness. "It's only 2 miles down the road. With a carriage, we'll be there in no time!"

As the man continued ahead, Angel turned to Claude on her shoulder, ripping the web he made on the cloth and putting him on the ground, sliding him on the other side of the door, where he creeped off the gloved fingers of his daughter and on the cold, reflective tile of the entrance hall. "Help Sebastian and Ciel, and find Justine. I'll be fine." The girl pushed the spider in the house before closing the door and following Druitt.

Claude gazed at the door before returning to his human form just as before, but everything growing in the opposite direction. The largest pair of eyes turned into his golden human eyes as the other three pairs turned into whatever was meant to be there. His arms and legs grew back as the two pairs of spider legs in the middle retreated in his abdomen. All the little hairs on his skin retreated back in his pores as his black hair grew back out and his general frame grew larger and taller as he stood upright. Adjusting his glasses, the spider sighed in worry at the shut door, "...Please be careful."

With the plan going perfectly so far, the three men met in the center of the golden, grand entrance hall. "Sebastian! You look in the second floor. Check the bedrooms, studies, any door you see." Ciel ordered before turning to Claude. "You search in the servant's quarters and basement. I'll look around the first floor." Both butlers nodded before splitting up.

Sebastian threw open every door in sight, every door opened to an empty room caused his worry to increase dramatically until he was at the point of looking like an insane asylum patient.

Ciel searched for trap doors through the entrance hall, kitchen, library, etc. with no such luck. With every attempt to open a secret door, he got a little more annoyed.

The spider demon looked around in every room in the servant's quarters before returning to the kitchen to go down to the basement. When he got there, he heard the rattle of chains against concrete and saw a figure in the corner, folded in herself. She was faced away from him and her face was covered in her gag and blind fold, but he still had a feeling he knew who she was.

He approached her and knelt next to her. When he touched her shoulder, she started to freak out and squirm, crying and sobbing through the thick fabric between her teeth that tied behind her neck. "It's alright." he soothed. "Don't scream." When she calmed at the sound of his voice, he gently untied the black blindfold and confirmed who he'd found. Seeing the fearful and sobbing green eyes of a reaper, but the slightly blue hue in them that made her different, he knew this girl was none other than Justine Sutcliff Michaelis.

Justine looked at Claude, though he looked like a blob of bland colors without her glasses, through teary eyes as he ungagged her. "M-my...gla..." she stated weakly.

"What was that?" the spider demon asked, placing the gag down so it was out of the way as he leaned in to her.

With Claude's ear just a breath away from her lips, she croaked dryly, "My glasses...Where are my glasses?"

Claude understood and continued to remove the fabrics from her form, using the gag to wipe off drool she gained in her time there, her mouth trapped in slight agape. "I'm not sure where your glasses are." he answered as he turned quickly into a spider and crawled in the locks.

After hours of tweaking and twiddling, Claude got the shackles unlocked and exited the keyholes. As he returned human, he picked up the girl on the ground, too weak, bruised, and cut to move herself, and debated in his mind on what he should do.

_Should I return her to her family? That's what I'd hope from Sebastian if the tables were turned._ he wondered. _But then there's the subject that my master's orders were to make Sebastian Michaelis suffer. _he took into consideration._ So, should I take the girl and run? Lock her up in the Trancy manner? What if Angel found out I did that? She'd never trust me again._

With a sigh, he took his hand and waved it over the girl, forcing her to turn into a small black cat. Once she was a cat, he pushed her in his large coat pocket and used his arm to hide the large lump the girl's form left. Once Justine was secure in his coat, he rushed out of the basement and left the large Druitt manner.

When he returned to the Trancy manner in a haste, he quickly handed Justine off to the triplets with a quick, "Make sure this cat doesn't leave. Lock her in one of the rooms or something." and he left just as suddenly as he returned, not even giving the young Trancy boy enough time to catch his attention. With amazing speeds, he made it to the river only minutes after Druitt and Angel arrived.

The blonde Viscount looked around dramatically and overly animated. "Do you see your father anywhere?" he asked.

Angel looked around and sighed. "No, I don't... Just give him a few moments, he'll come."

"Angel!" a voice called out by the bridge only moments later. When the two looked, they saw Claude quickly come over and hug his daughter. "I'm so glad you came here, just like we agreed."

"Yes dad." she stated before glancing to Aleister and giving him a little curtsy. "Thank you for guiding me."

"Yes," Claude thanked, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you for helping my daughter. I will be happy to do whatever I can to repay my debt."

Aleister grinned down at the girl. "...All I ask is to know this little butterfly's name."

"Angel Blanc Faustus." she introduced herself fully before looking back up at him with a worry in her eyes. "I apologize if I had misled you into believing I was without a man in my life, but my heart belongs to another."

To this, Aleister held his head in over animated despair. "NOOOOOOOO!" he cried before picking himself up with a smile. "No worries, because when this other man breaks your heart, I shall be there to stitch it together once again!"

Sebastian and Ciel entered the Phantomhive estate empty handed. "What happened?" Finnie asked, concern coating his young, usually happy voice as he opened the door for them with a hand protected by his gardening gloves and followed them to the large, dark wooden staircase where Meyrin was collecting the brush and polish as she stood and made her own way down the steps. Her attention was also seized by the master's and butler's return. "Did you find her?"

Ciel shot a glare at the blonde teen gardener, making the servant widen his round, turquoise eyes in fear. _Maybe that wasn't the best question to ask..._ the gardener thought to himself before the master took in a deep breath, letting it out in quickly paced words that were each accented in an edge of growing irritation. "Sebastian is still a hot mess, we come back completely empty handed, and you think we found her?"

The teen cringed before scratching the back of his head under the straw hat that was stringed around his neck. "...Just a question..."

The butler looked down at his pocket watch and widened his eyes. "Oh, my, look at how late it's gotten." he stated blandly as he returned the watch to his coat pocket. "It's time for bed, young master."

When Sebastian tried to go up the steps, Ciel took off his eye patch to reveal the glowing purple pentagram on his eye. "No!" he shouted. "Sebastian, you are still an unfit nervous wreck! Leave this manner and don't return until your daughter is returned to safety!" The demon looked at him in shock before the boy Earl shouted, "That's an order!"

Sebastian took in a deep breath and bowed low at the foot of the stair case. "Yes, my Lord." he stated before he stood tall and strolled out the door, closing the room off from himself once he was on the other side.

Ciel continued up the stairs to attempt to get ready for bed on his own. "Meyrin!" he called as he passed the maid. "Until Sebastian returns, you are to take his job."

"M-me?" she asked, her voice trembling as she rushed to follow the master with tense arms. "B-but I have no idea what his job even means, I sure don't! I don't know what to do!"

The master shrugged as he continued up the stairs nonchalantly. "All you do is wake me up, get me ready for the day, serve me breakfast, bring me tea and snacks, protect me when I go out, serve dinner, and get me ready for bed. You also must do everything I order without question, but that isn't any different from a normal day for you."

Meyrin gave him a look of fear as sweat droplets shot out of her pores at bullet speed, drenching her crimson hairline with the salty fluid. "...That sounds really easy, and Sebastian makes it look easy, but he does it so perfectly! It'd be hard for me to compare to that!" she turned to look down at the entrance hall where she last saw the blonde teen. "Finnie, would you-?" she cut herself off when she saw the trail of irritated dust that led straight to the slowly closing front doors that eased to a stop that left the doors cracked, allowing the bright, silver moonlight to stream in the room in a thin strip. The singular strip of light felt to the maid as a blinding spotlight that she couldn't escape from no matter how hard she tried. "...Finnie?"

"SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBAAAAAASTIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" came a childish, highly pitched scream before the butler nearly fell over when the caller crashed into him.

Sebastian looked over and raised a brow at the turquoise eyes that looked up at him. "...Finnian? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to help look for Justine!" he called happily as his garden gloved hands readjusted his bright red barrettes in his golden bangs.

Hearing this, the tired butler clutched his head as he shut his blood red eyes and sighed deeply mixed with his groan of agitation. "Oh...right...you and her have been dating for-"

"Over a year!" Finnie finished with a smile as he walked energetically in front of the butler backwards._ Great_. Sebastian thought. _I now have to be responsible for a human teenager_. "Ever since Pluto scared her and you were busy serving the master his tea! Of course, I understand that you couldn't leave the master's side, you and him having a supernatural demonic contract." The crow stopped walking and looked at him with skeptical red eyes and an arched, thin, black brow before the gardener raised his hands in defense, wrinkling his plain, tan, long sleeves from the sudden action of surrender. "She already told me about demons and reapers and angels and all that, so you don't have to keep those kinds of secrets from me, since you're a demon...you are a demon, right?"

Sebastian averted his eyes and continued to walk in silence as the human smiled and rushed to catch up to him. "You ARE a demon! I knew it! Well, partly because Justine already told me that you're a demon, but then she told me that her mom was Grell, Isn't Grell a guy? I mean, how does that work out? So, can you fly? Justine told me you can fly! Oh! And she told me that you also have super speed and strength! She even told me that one time when you and the master went on that train, you stopped that train with your bare hand, and saved the whole train from a bomb that was set to go off when the train stopped! Oh! And she told me about how, at the same time, you saved the master, and a little boy from being kidnapped! Three crises at once! Wow! Is there anything you can't do? She also told me about this other time..."

**. . .**

As Claude walked with Angel through the door to the golden and red mansion, the teen only climbed the stairs sluggishly to her room with she head down, her arms heavily swinging at her sides as she effort fully lifted her hand to reach the rail. "...Dad, I'm just going to go to bed." she grumbled, hardly above a whisper, not bothering to turn her head to face him.

The butler nodded in understanding before walking away to leave her alone, allowing her to drag herself down the upstairs hall and to the room she claimed as her own. Angel sighed as she opened the door to her room and closed it again with no strength left in her motions. She tiredly walked over to her bed and plopped on the mattress in exhaustion, not caring to change from the fancy purple and black dress, or the long braid in her hair and purple flower keeping her braid together. What caught her off guard was the shriek of surprise from just above her head.

Confused, she looked up in quick and sudden movements and saw a small, short-haired black cat with a reddish shine to her coat in the candle light. Her fur stood on end, and she looked like a complete mess, coated in mud, soaked to the bone, as well as frazzled. She started to bare her sharp teeth at the teen before she just looked at her with large, widening blue-green eyes, slowly relaxing he lips and flattening her black.

The golden brown eyes collided to with the blue hued green orbs of the feline. After a moment, the cat went crazy, leaping around the room and screeching a series of unidentifiable meows. Angel simply stared dumbfounded and beyond confused. She wasn't sure why there was a cat in her room. What she could think of was that her dad requested the cat to be in her room to cheer her up with a Justine replacement; Sebastian told her that her missing friend was known as a cat demon after all.

Angel picked up the cat and just gazed at her as she squirmed and desperately resisted. "...Where did you come from?" she asked to no one in particular. It just made next to no sense. _If dad had requested her,_ she wondered. _where did he find the time to contact the triplets and Hannah to tell then that the plan was a failure?_ She tilted her head in thought before shrugging. _At least he's trying._ she concluded, taking a deep breath and sniffing the flailing feline, resulting in her choking herself in the repulsive scent. "First thing's first...you need a bath." She could only chuckle as the cat froze as she widened her eyes in horror and dropped herself in the dog's hands. As Angel made her way to the bathroom with a little more happiness and energy than she had earlier, the cat shrank and tried desperately to get away from the water just like any cat would in the same situation.

**. . .**

Sebastian gazed at his watch in disbelief, trying desperately to hold himself together with paperclips, spit, and duct tape._ ...Seven...hours... _It was true. Finnie talked of nothing but his knowledge of the supernatural and his thoughts on his knowledge for seven hours straight.

"...and, she told me that one time, you-"

"FINNIAN!" Sebastian exploded, shocking the gardener from the rash and uncharacteristic action and causing both of them to stop walking through the dense trees that looked like hands in the late night shadows. "Can you PLEASE stop! I'm already on edge with what's going on, and you not shutting up is NOT helping!"

The small blonde cringed in fright before hugging himself in sorrow, rubbing his arm and shrugging his shoulders in attempt to hide his face, apparently forgetting about the hat that hung behind his back on his neck. "...Sorry." he muttered. "...I was just trying to lighten the mood, so that when we find her, we can be more focused and sane." The butler straightened, only gazing at his companion in surprise as the human continued. "I'm also trying to get everything straight so that, if we DO need to face something supernatural, I won't be helpless."

Hearing this, the crow demon sighed. "...Yes..." he mumbled, earning a confused look from Finnie. "...Yes, I can fly, yes, I do have super strength, yes, I do have super speed, yes, Grell is male, no, I do not understand how it was possible we had a daughter, yes, Grell is a Grim Reaper, no, until recently, there hasn't been a challenge I can't complete, yes, all demons have special powers, no, Justine does not have an active power instead she can see the future and knows everything about everyone when given a name, her only active power, if you'd even call it that, is transforming into a cat, yes, that's why there is always a cat at the manner despite the master's cat allergy, yes, Claude Feastus is a demon, yes he has the power to change everything with just the swipe of his hand, and he has spider webs and can transform into a spider of his choice, and yes, his daughter is one as well, though I don't know what her powers are. Any more questions for your human mind?"

Finnie thought for a moment before he asked, "...Will Justine be okay?"

Sebastian averted his eyes and stared at nothing in silence before he sighed. "...That's what worries me...I don't know..."


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning, at the Trancy manner, Claude passed by Angel's bedroom door. To his surprise, he heard his daughter's laughter despite the depressing state she was in the night before. Curious, he opened the door and froze stiff and flat as a board in shock at the sight. He saw Angel in her dog form playing with the cat that he commanded the triplets to lock away. When the teen saw her father, she smiled wide and ran up to hug him, shedding the fur and gelling into her human form as she zoomed across the room. "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" she screamed, squeezing Claude's arms and torso tightly.

The shocked butler decided to allow the girl to do the talking, and he was glad he did. "I knew you weren't a bad guy! Even though we couldn't find Justine, you got me a pet cat instead to help with the loneliness! It's not the best, but at least you tried! Thanks for thinking of me!"

The spider demon smiled upon hearing this and pulled his hands out of Angel's grip to hug her back. "Only the best for my little puppy." he stated. "What are you going to name her?"

Angel thought for a second before she beamed a smile. "Luna!" Luna meowed with a little shake and the dog demon smiled. "I think she likes it~!" The cat sat on the desk and curled her tail around her legs, giving another meow as she licked her paw and rubbed her head with the small, furry leg.

All Claude could do was smile. "Well, I can see that you and...Luna have some very important...uhh...owner/pet bonding to do. I'll leave you to it then." he stated as he left, closing the door behind him.

Angel smiled and turned back to her new cat. "Now, are you hungry?" The cat sunk her head as her stomach made a little growl and the teen just laughed. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." And with that, she picked up the cat and carried her down to the kitchen in search for a bowl and something Luna can eat.

After a while, the triplets came in the room and just stared at her in confusion. The girl turned around and called, "Hey! Thompson, Timber, Canterbury, you guys know where the-?" she was cut off as Thompson handed her a bowl, Timber gave her a can of tuna, and Canterbury passed her a bowl of water, all three silent in their actions. She smiled and put the bowls down on the counter. "Thanks guys." The triplets nodded in acknowledgment before walking away.

When Luna tried to sniff the can, Angel re-secured her grip on her. Using her one free hand, she opened the tuna can and dumped it in the food bowl before mashing the food with a fork.

Seeing the cat start to get impatient and anxious, the teen took the food bowl in her hand and placed the water bowl to balance on her elbow before walking cautiously back to her room. Once there, she shut the door, freed the cat, and placed the bowls in the far corner of the room.

**. . .**

Once Luna was fed and rested from her cat nap, Angel started to play with her again before she heard something hit her window. She sat up in slight shock as she stood from the door and made her way to the glass. Looking out, she smiled when she saw the familiar blond hair of her new boyfriend, who she recently started dating not long after meeting face to face.

"Ronald!" she called after opening the window. Hearing the name, Luna perked up and peeked her head out beside her owner, looking down. "What are you doing here? You know my dad doesn't like surprise visits, especially here at the young master's house!" Mindlessly, she looked at the glass window and saw the small cracks, causing her to look back down at the reaper. "And you know my dad doesn't like anything going wrong with the manner! How am I supposed to explain these cracks?!"

Ronald looked over at something beside the dog and chuckled. "Your new cat doesn't seem to mind." he joked as the said cat made loud meows and even tried to jump out the window before Angel caught her and pulled her back inside, causing Ronald's chuckle to grow into huffs of laughter.

After Luna was behind Angel with no chance of escape out the window, the teen looked back down at the reaper. "So, my shift ended a while ago, maybe you'd like to go out and about with me, see how much trouble we can cause." Ronald called up.

Angel leaned of the golden windowsill and sighed. "I'd love to, but my curfew's 5 o'clock on weekdays, and it's already 6:30! Or did you forget that today was Thursday, A.K.A, a day that my dad will need me at any given moment?"

"What teenager hasn't gone out after curfew before?" Ronald argued. "You're a demon of illusion for crying out loud!"

The demon looked back at the cat and sighed out the window. "I need to take care of this new cat."

"The cat can come with us!" the young man called up quickly. "No worries. It'll be fun!"

Angel looked back at Luna before biting her lip and nodding, snatching the cat and leaving the room, leaving behind the illusion that she and her cat were sleeping in the bed. With a big smile, and the black cat in her grip, Angel leapt out the window, landing gently in the man's arms, and she and Ronald ran off together in the woods.

After they knew that Claude wasn't after them, they slowed their running to an easy stroll, during which, Ronald eyed the cat curiously. Angel took notice and gazed at him oddly, a smile on her face from the rush or rebellion she felt. "...What?" she asked.

"...I know this sounds crazy," the reaper stated before biting his lip. "...but...I think I've seen that cat before." Hearing this, the demon laughed as the cat perked her pointed ears and continuously tried to leap out of Angel's arms and to Ronald, shrieking many alarmed meows at him. "What's even crazier..." the reaper continued. "I feel like she's trying to tell me something."

"Don't be ridiculous." Angel chuckled, bumping Ronald with her shoulder due to her arms being full of Luna. "Cats can't talk."

That still didn't put the reaper's mind at ease. "...You're a demon of illusion." he stated. "Can't you give that cat a voice so she can talk or something?" he asked.

To this, the dog demon scratched her chin in thought as the cat looked up at her with pleading blue-green eyes. "...I've never tried to give animals voices like that...have them speak their thoughts..." After some more thought she shrugged uncertainly. "...I don't know..."

Ronald smiled down at her and gave her a side hug as they simply continued their stroll. "No worries, it's probably nothing." At those words, the cat slumped in defeat, completely giving up on whatever she was trying to do.

As the afternoon transformed into late night, Angel couldn't help but notice Luna's depressed state. "Luna?" she called softly, shaking the still cat a little. "You alright?"

"What's wrong?" Ronald asked, looking down at the unmoving cat aside from the steady, deep rise and fall of the cat's abdomen and occasional blink of her large blue hued green eyes.

The dog demon shrugged. "I don't know, maybe she's tired." she concluded, beginning to leave. "I guess I should be getting home."

He nodded as he took her hand into his own with a kind smile. "I'll take you home then." With a smile from both of them, they began to stroll through the woods, back to the manner.

When they arrived at the estate, Angel quickly defused the illusion she left and got ready for bed. Just before she blew out the candles, she gazed at Luna, still depressingly lying on the bed curled in a little ball. She hadn't made any noticeable motions or noises since they discussed and dismissed the idea of using powers to allow her to talk.

The demon consistently thought about what she and Ronald discussed, but she didn't have much faith in her ability; at least not enough to try letting animals talk. If she was really curious about the cat's thoughts, she'd ask her father to turn her human so she can speak for herself. She knew he could do that...it was just a question of would he.

Her mind was set. Next time she'd see Claude, she'd ask him to turn her little Luna into a human. She was so curious about the cat's thoughts that she was already practicing her best puppy pout she'd ever pulled on him.

A good puppy pout would get her what she wanted from him; a great puppy pout would get her what he wouldn't want to give.

**. . .**

The next morning, she followed through with her plans on asking Claude. She looked up at him while she helped spread the tablecloth that was newly ironed. "...Dad," she called. When he looked up at her, she continued. "...I was wondering if...you see, Luna..." Now, Claude completely stopped what he was doing and stood straight, looking directly at her with slightly widened eyes and furrowed brows. Seeing this, Angel blurted out, "CanyoumakeLunaahuman?"

The spider demon raised his black brows before adjusting his glasses and regaining his bland composure. "...Sugar into Salt, English into Purrs, Fingers into Paws. You want me to turn your feline friend human?"

The girl nodded, slightly confused by her father's choice of words in his phrase. "Why'd you use the saying like that?" she asked.

"To emphasize the transformation between the two species." he stated as though it were obvious.

Angel thought for a second as she replayed the line in her head. "...but then...wouldn't it be the other way around?" she asked. "'Purrs into English'? 'Paws into Fingers'?"

Claude simply looked at her before he nodded smiling smally. "In this case, yes. How silly of me to get it mixed."

The dog demon sighed, distracted by her own thoughts. "...Yeah, it's not like you to mix up your own line." She thought harder on the subject before she continued her chores. She'd never heard him get his subjects mixed up like that. As annoying, vague, and confusing as his riddles were, she knew that much. The only option was that he didn't mix it up by accident, but the reason he mixed it up was still unknown to her, but the only way to know for sure was to get in Luna's head. Because she was brought to her through Claude, she might understand what he knows.

She expelled that from her mind only seconds after it entered. "Don't be crazy Angel." she scolded herself in harsh whisper as she assisted the triplets in the garden. "Cats can't talk, and they don't understand what's going on. No amount of my powers can change that."

"Are you talking about the cat that Claude requested be locked in your room a while back?" Timber asked, startling the dog demon.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed in surprise before she looked at the purple haired man dumbfounded. "Timber? _You_ can talk?!"

"We've been talking the whole time!" Thompson exclaimed, jumping down from a tree. "What? Did you think we were mute or something?"

Angel just stood there before the purple haired, red eyed duo on the luscious, grassy ground dumbfounded. "...Well...yeah." she answered, hoping she wouldn't offend them. "You guys _never_ talked to anybody! You always kept to yourselves!"

"Yeah, but today the master ordered us to talk loud enough to be heard by more than just ourselves." Canterbury sighed, twirling in the air from another tree branch and landing on the grass in his polished, brown shoes.

Angel looked at them with wide eyes before she shook her head and turned to the first triplet that spoke. "What did you say about Luna?"

"So, Luna is that cat's name?" he asked, clutching his chin in thought and arching a brow. "In all honesty, Claude just ordered us to lock her away; it was our own idea to put her in your room."

"We thought you could use the extra company, since there was a fifty-fifty chance that you'd return needing some comfort." Thompson stated with a small smile.

"He didn't tell us anything about the cat, just that we weren't to let it leave." Canterbury added.

The dog demon scratched her chin. "I guess then I need to make the illusion of her thoughts..." she concluded as she left, turning to one of the triplets. "Thanks for the help Thompson!"

"I'm Timber!"

Angel didn't pay attention as she ran up to her room and woke the sleeping cat on her windowsill. With a smile, she picked up the cat and brushed her hand over her throat. "Now then," she stated as she concentrated of the red dust that circled Luna and contracted to where her voice would be. "...Let's see what my father is hiding from me."


	10. Chapter 10

The cat looked up at Angel and smiled. "ANG!" she exclaimed in a voice very familiar to the teen.

As the cat jumped up to her, Angel looked at her with wide eyes. "...Justine?" she asked, only making the feline's smile bigger. The dog pushed the cat from her and took a good look at her as Justine smiled as she hung in the demon's hands.

"About time you followed Ronald's plan! I've been trying to tell you forever!" she exclaimed, leaping out of the grip and landing on the easel and walking on it with a balance only a cat can have.

"What happened?" the dog demon asked. "Why didn't you change back? Why didn't you talk? Where've you been?"

"Well," Justine started, sitting on the desk with her tail twisted around her three paws as she used her fourth paw to talk out of habit of talking with her hands. "After our last meeting in the forest, my dad busted me and didn't let me out of his sight! After a few weeks of that, the Viscount Druitt showed up from nowhere, knocked me out, and tied me in his basement for, I don't even know how long! When I was finally found by your dad, he turned me into a cat and gave me to the triplets who gave me to you. As for why I couldn't talk or change back, when your dad turned me into a cat, he blocked off my demonic power to change form willingly. I can't change back until he changes me back. By the way, your dad owes me a pair of reaper glasses!"

It wasn't until then when a thought occurred to her and she lay on the desk, hiding her kitten face in her little paws. "How bad is my dad?" she asked. "If your dad found me, then I can only guess you saw my dad. How far off the deep end has he gone?"

Angel bit her lip and averted her eyes. "From what I saw of him...Pretty far..."

Hearing this, Justine folded her pointed ears and whimpered. "I'm so dead when I get home." With a sigh, she removed her paws from her eyes and placed them over her head as she looked up at her friend. "...How long does this illusion work?" she asked.

The demon thought for a moment before she answered, "I've never tried an illusion like this before, but the longest illusion I've kept going lasted about a day, give or take a few hours."

To this, the cat leapt off the desk and started out the door. "Come on!" she called. "You gotta help me find my dad!"

"Hold up!" Angel stopped her friend, shutting the door just before the cat could leave, effectively having her face plant the door. "If it really was my dad who did this, then he's going to be alarmed when he finds you running around the manner without me holding you, even more so if you talk in front of him." As Justine rubbed her nose with her paw, she looked up at the teen. "Also, it would prove that he lied to me, and I want him to tell me the truth. If the illusion wares off then I can just renew it. We can always find your dad, and I'm sure he'd get back to normal as soon as he sees you. But I want to hear my dad be honest with me for once in my life. Once I leave, I miss my chance."

The small cat sighed and averted her eyes. "...Fine, but how are you going to get the truth out of him?" she asked, reentering the room past the teen and sitting on the floor with Angel between Justine and the door. "He's a spider!"

Justine had her there. Angel thought for a moment before a smirk spread across her face. "I think I have an idea..." the cat perked at this and tilted her furry head at her. "I need you to-"

"To do what?" came a deep, rough voice from behind the teen.

Angel turned around in alarm and smacked Justine's mouth shut with her foot before she could say a word. "Hi daddy~" the dog demon giggled.

Claude raised a long, black brow. "You only call me that anymore if you want something." he stated, crossing his arms and looking down at her with an intimidating golden gaze.

"Want something?" Angel asked, sliding Justine behind her with her foot. The cat knew better than to talk, so she stayed silent behind the teen's black tail coat. "What makes you think I want something?" When the spider demon started tapping his foot in agitation, the pup sighed. "You caught me." she uttered with a slump of her shoulders. "I just want to know if you were being honest when you said you never found Justine at Druitt's manner."

Claude adjusted his glasses again and sighed tiredly. "I already told you, all I found in the servant quarters of that manner, where I was instructed to search, were these." He reached in his breast pocket and pulled out a pair of thin, square, purple glasses before returning them to the pocket he pulled them from. "If Ms. Michaelis was on the property, she is now either at another location or reunited with her father. I have done nothing short of what I would expect from Sebastian Michaelis if the situations were reverse." With that, he turned to take his leave.

Seconds after the door shut, Justine walked out from behind her friend and leapt up on the bed, looking up in her golden brown eyes with a straight face. "You were saying?"

**. . .**

As Claude continued with his chores, he didn't take notice to the shadows that followed him along with the faint sound of purrs. Green eyes glowed in the shadows as the slit pupils followed his every move. "...Claude..." a faint voice whispered in the wind. The butler stopped for only a moment before he shook his head and continued his work.

"...Claude..." the voice repeated just a hair louder, causing him to stop and look around in the darkness of the room. "...You had your chance..." another whisper whisked in the wind and echoed through the halls as the shadow leapt to a lower shelf for a better look.

The demon butler looked around again, now suspicious of what was happening as he dropped what he was doing to search for the source of the voice. "Who's there?" he asked sternly.

His answer was in purrs. "...You know who..." the voice whispered as the deep purrs gradually grew louder.

The spider uneasily continued his chores, trying to ignore the voices and sounds until the voice purred a specific sentence that made his skin crawl. "How can you lie to your own **daughter** like that?" the voice asked, emphasizing the word 'daughter'.

"I never lied to her!" Claude threw his arms down, smashing the gold rimmed white plates in his hands on the hard wooden floor as he shouted to seemingly nothing other than the shadows and wind.

"You never gave her the full truth either."

The golden eyes of the man in black widened in slight fear. "Why would you care?" he asked, kneeling down to clean the shards of plate on the floor, but not letting his eyes leave the shadows. "Who are you?"

"You know well who I am." the voice repeated as a small form landed just behind him and flicked her tail back and forth with a smirk on her red and black kitten face. "I'm the girl you denied from Sebastian Michaelis. I'm the girl you lied to your daughter about. I'm the girl...that's right behind you."

The spider demon hesitantly turned around and saw the small cat with the demonic evil glow in her green eyes. "...Boo."

Seeing the cat's mouth move and a word to escape the black lips, the butler jumped before he stood with furrowed brows and seized the cat by the scruff of her neck. "I don't know how you were able to speak English, but you're not telling Angel anything!"

Justine crossed her front legs as if they were arms and smirked. "I already told her!" she exclaimed, causing Claude to raise his brows and widen his eyes. "I told her about you finding me in Druitt's basement, turning me into a cat, wanting me to be locked up...Everything!"

Claude fumed in anger and rushed outside as the cat swung in his gloved hand. He took the cat far in the garden until he reached the triplet's shed on the far edge of the property. It was small, crammed, and filled to the brim with big, sharp gardening tools. Worst of all, the shed had nothing relatively close to a window, only a peep hole high on the wall and the shuffled dirt under the door. The butler creaked open the door and threw Justine inside before shutting it once again and clicking the lock, dropping the key in his pocket.

The small feline scratched on the old wooden door in panic, screeching, meowing, and crying for help, as Claude simply took his leave. "Sugar into Salt, Voices into Silence, Justine Michaelis into Helpless Feline. That's what makes a Trancy butler."

Two seconds after the spider demon opened the door to return inside through the kitchen, he was greeted by a not so happy teenager who saw his whole walk through the garden from the second floor window of her room. "...Dad..." she stated sternly, crossing her own arms and glaring up at the man. When Claude was silent and looked at her blankly, she continued. "Is there something you want to say?"

After a second's thought, Claude shook his head. "Nothing." he answered.

Angel only furrowed her brows more and hardened her glare. "I've given you two chances just today to tell me the truth, and you keep on shoving me more lies!" she exploded. With that, she pushed past him and ran out in the woods.

"Where are you going?" he asked in a worried, tired sigh that Claude has mastered all too well as a parent of a teenage girl.

"I'm going to do the genuinely right thing, and find Sebastian!" she answered. "He has a right to know where his daughter is." As she stormed off in the shadows of the trees, she started to call back at Claude without turning around to face him, "I should've listened to Justine when she said that you were hopeless! You'll NEVER change! _**Once**_ a deceitful spider, _**always**_ a deceitful spider."

The spider demon saddened his expression at her words as he watched her disappear in the greenery of the woods. He might've won the battle to keep the Michaelis girl there with locking her on the Trancy property, but lost the war of his relationship with his daughter by Angel's few words; he became nothing more than a squashed spider.

**. . .**

Sebastian and Finnie searched everywhere they could, sneaking around all of Druitt's manners and facilities. After days of this searching they grew tired and fearful of the lack of success. Both of them bore dark bags under their eyes and their hair was getting less straight and more crazed. Even their cloths were starting to wear and tear from sneaking in window after window, hiding in bush after bush. "What are we going to do now?" the gardener asked as the butler looked down at him in the orange and yellow light of the late evening.

Just before the demon could answer, a twig snapping caught his attention as a form came out of the trees in front of them. It was the form of a girl with a long black tail coat, a black tie under a purple clip, and brown hair falling over golden brown eyes. Sebastian sneered at the teenage girl. "Go away!"

Angel looked up at him after beating the leaves and dirt from her arms. "Sebastian, you have to come with me to the Trancy manner." she informed urgently.

"Why would we do that?" Finnie asked, curious, but just as skeptical as Sebastian.

"Justine's there." This caught the males' attention, so she continued. "My dad had her the whole time since you searched the first Druitt manner, the one where you needed me to be bait." she explained as the two listened carefully.

When the explanation was finished, Sebastian sighed with a edge to his voice. "So, you mean to say that Justine has been with you this whole time?" She nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

Finnie bit his lip in thought. "Let me get this straight." he stated, clutching his head to relieve the oncoming headache. "So, Justine was kidnapped by Druitt, but then turned into a cat and taken to the Trancy Estate, where she's been ever since?"

Angel again nodded. "The only problem is that, when my dad took her in the garden, I lost sight of where he took her specifically." she stated as she started to lead them to the estate. "We'd need to search the gardens, without my dad or young master finding out, of course."

As the three came up to the manner, Angel looked around in the shadows of the nightly hour before turning to the men. "All clear." she whispered before she jumped out of her skin and her dog ears, tail, and even half folded, white wings popped out for only a second. Someone jumped right in her path.

Seeing it was only Timber, she mindlessly folded her wings and smoothed her ears and tail in her hair and coat before smacking the triplet. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "And why did you have to scare me like that?!"

"I heard you coming back with Sebastian." he stated, crossing his arms.

After a second, something hit the teen like a ton of bricks. "...Where are Thompson and Canterbury?"

"Thompson is talking Claude's ear off in the kitchen, and Canterbury is insisting on the master's help on deciding the new inertial design." Timber answered. "As for what I'm doing here," He reached in his breast pocket of his vest and pulled out a shining golden key. "...I saw Claude lock up that cat in our shed."

Hearing this, Sebastian widened his eyes in shock, confusion, and a hint of anger. "Why didn't you set her free when you had the chance?"

"Same reason you three are sneaking around." was the triplet's answer. "If I opened the shed directly after Claude locked it, he would've heard the lack in cries, and know it was me and my brothers instantly, the young master would know that something was wrong, Claude would tell him that his back-up plan to making you miserable was failing, then my brothers and I would all three face the Demon Sword."

The crow demon simply slumped and hung his head on his lean neck tiredly. "...Why is it this kid's goal in life to make me miserable?" he asked no one in particular. He sighed to himself, regaining his scrap of composure left, before looking up at Timber. "You are willing to show us your shed?" The purple haired demon nodded as he started to walk in the direction.

When they got to the shed, Timber unlocked the door and opened it wide. Inside the small wooden shed were...only tools. Finnie looked behind the tools, calling Justine's name, but Sebastian growled and took the triplet's shirt in his fist. "You think this is funny?" he growled as his shadow grew larger and in-defiant in shape.

"No!" Timber shouted in defense. "I promise I saw Claude lock her in here!"

Angel looked down at her feet and noticed something odd. She knelt down to the soil and placed her hand in the deep hole at the base of the doorway. _That must be what happened,_ she thought to herself as she quickly turned into a full dog and sniffed the hole. _…chocolate and catnip? Yup, that's Justine alright._

"Guys, I found something!" she shouted, but was ignored as Sebastian pulled his fist back that was aimed for Timber's face. Thinking quickly, the dog bit in the demon's pants sleeve and pulled the leg just enough for Sebastian to slip and stumble on a box. "I have Justine's scent!"

Finnie looked at Angel confusingly. "...How is it she could talk, but Pluto couldn't?"

Sebastian clutched his head and made a sound that was a mixture between a sigh and a groan, trying to think of a way to explain the complex concept for his simple, human brain. "Pluto was a demon hound, which are born as canines and gain the ability to turn human as time progresses. Angel, however, is a dog demon, which is just like other demons, but her default form is a dog much like mine is a crow, Justine's is a cat, and Claude's is a spider."

Angel tugged on Sebastian's pants again, but much less forceful, to gain everyone's attention. "This is a great lesson and all, but I have the scent, and it's not going to be long before Thompson and Canterbury can't distract my dad and master anymore. Are we here to find Justine, or learn Demons 101?"

The three nodded before they followed the dog. "You know, Timber," she called back as she followed her scent trail. "I think we can take it from here. You go and check on your brothers, especially Thompson. Make sure my dad does NOT find us!" The demon nodded and ran back to the manner.

Angel, Finnie, and Sebastian followed the trail a little further before the dog saw something very distinct and familiar, a skull. She sniffed the skull again before turning to the men. "I think I know where she went." she stated.

"Where?" Finnie asked.

"A while back, before our dads even knew we were friends, we had a club house in the middle of the woods between the Trancy manner and Phantomhives." she explained quickly. "The path was built with skulls and bones, and we even put up amulets so no one would follow us, namely you and my dad." she stated to the crow demon as she moved the bushes a little to reveal the amulet shaped like a dog's head hanging from a branch. Angel looked up and nearly met Sebastian's red glare before averting her eyes to the earthy ground with a cough, desperate to change the subject. "Unfortunately, it doesn't work on humans, but since the only human in this manner is Alois, that was never really a problem for me."

"If the amulets don't let demons pass," Finnie started, trying to connect the dots. "Then how is it you and Justine can? Aren't you both demons?"

"We both put a few drops of our blood on each amulet so it would let us in at either entrance." she explained. "Unless their blood ended up on the amulet, no demon, neither reaper, nor angel could follow us."

"Why would she go there?" the gardener asked, truly curious.

Sebastian took another look at the amulet and furrowed his brows. "It's a guarantee that she will be safe from Claude, especially because of the supernatural protection on this path. Even I never detected the path from either side of the path." he explained as he removed his glove, bit his finger hard enough to draw blood, and attempted to drop the red liquid on the amulet when it rejected him all together and zapped him back a good few yards.

The zap alerted Claude as the spider demon dropped his activity and hurried from the kitchen to the garden. "Uh, I think I heard the master call for you!" Thompson shouted, trying to keep his attention.

"I didn't hear the master." the butler responded as he opened the door and started outside.

Seeing light pour out the door, Angel quickly snatched the amulet and presented it to Sebastian. "Come on, it should work now that it's been moved from its place." she insisted.

Sebastian looked back with widened eyes and tense muscles before quickly squeezing out a few drops of blood on the stringed stone. Just when Angel returned it to the branch it originally hung on, Claude turned the corner and saw them as Thompson and Timber both tried to pull him back. The dog watched tensely as the glow started to fade, knowing it wouldn't accept the new blood until its supernatural shine was gone. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" she hurried. The second the light faded, she dragged Sebastian and Finnie on the path just before Claude could snatch the gardener's hat. When the spider demon tried to follow, he was zapped in exile from the woods and thrown many yards back.

When Claude walked away with a huff, Sebastian looked at Angel, now returning to her human form and giving the two room to follow the path ahead of her. "...My blood will stay on that amulet for the rest of its existence, you know that?"

"Yes." she answered as they made their way down the river of bones.

"...Why help me in?" he asked. "What do you have to gain in helping me at all rather than turning me in to your father or helping him find Justine?"

Angel grabbed his shoulder to turn him around as the demons paused in their hike; she looked him dead in the eye. "You're a smart demon, Sebastian," she sighed as she stepped around him on the thin path. "what are dogs good for if not loyalty to those deserving of it?" The crow was silent as he followed the dog and the gardener. "Let me tell you something, boys, the moment Justine and I found out that our families were enemies, we promised to stay loyal to each other. I promised I'd stand by her, and her me, and I still honor that word now more than ever."

"But, how is helping us being loyal to her?" Finnie asked as the three continued down the path of skulls and bones.

"Simple." Angel shrugged as they approached the old club house and Finnie stopped in admiration, allowing the teen girl to slip ahead of him. "If I just found her, then my dad could easily get his webs on her. But, if I found her for you," she stopped to open the door for the two new comers, where they found a small figure breathing lightly under a blanket.

Now stirred from the sound of the door the small figure used her tiny paws to rub her eyes and looked up at the frame. Seeing the tall butler, the green eyes of the cat widened in pure joy. "Daddy!" she cried as she ran up to the three and leapt in Sebastian's arms, snuggling up against him as he fully squeezed her back, making it difficult for Finnie to even scratch her behind the ears.

"Justine!" Sebastian called back in flooding relief as he continuously kissed the top of her black, hairy head and around her small, furry face. "My little kitten."

Angel smiled at the scene before her as she continued her thought for no one in particular. "...I'd know she'd be in good, safe hands." She knew the two weren't paying attention to her, but she just wanted to hear herself finish the sentence aloud.

Sebastian chose to sit on the wooden bench in the small cabin as he held Justine tight his arms. Even if he wanted to let Finnie give her a hug (which he didn't), Justine made that difficult with her claws digging in his grey over coat. After a while of them just cuddling together, Angel cleared her throat for their attention and that's when the cat noticed Finnie. Pushing Sebastian's arms open, she leapt out and in her boyfriend's gloved hands. While the gardener carefully held Justine and they rubbed noses together as a substitute kiss, the butler smiled at the dog demon. "I obviously misjudged you." he admitted. "I expected you to be just like your father."

Angel sighed and crossed her arms. "My dad and I share a lot. A master, a job, a title, authority, even similar powers, but just like him...I'm nowhere close." After watching Finnie hug Justine carefully but tightly, Angel saddened. "Unfortunately, my dad and I don't have exactly the same powers, so the best I could do was give Justine her voice. I can't turn her back."

Sebastian nodded understandingly with a sad sigh. "Only Claude can return her to normal."

It was then when Angel had an idea pop in her mind. "...We need to go back." she stated. "Not Finnie, he's only a human and would just slow us down, but you, me, and Justine need to go back."

The butler looked down at her distrustfully. "Finnian has supernatural, mutant strength which only equals my own." he stated. "He is also Justine's...boyfriend." He spat the last word like a bad taste in his mouth. _I guess my dad's not the only parent who hates boyfriends._ Angel thought in wonder before the butler continued. "He must come with us."

Angel huffed before she pouted her lip in thought. "Okay, so what do we have on our side? We have my tracking skills and illusions, your strength, speed, and perfection, Finnie's mutant strength, and Justine's...brain." Though the cat shot her a glare, she couldn't argue that she was next to useless.

"The triplets also seem to be on our side." Sebastian brought up.

The dog demon bit her lip and shifted her weight from one foot to the other while crossing her arms over her buttoned coat. "Well, because they openly helped us, my dad is sure to punish them somehow, at least Timber and Thompson. I'm not sure about Canterbury though..."

She thought some more, wracking her brain on how else she could help. "I also know my dad like the back of my hand. I know all his weaknesses, strengths, you name it!" As she revealed this, she removed her left, white glove showing the golden pentagram that matched Claude's perfectly. "My dad is literally on the back of my hand."

The butler smiled devilishly at this. "So, you know every detail of him?" he asked. Angel nodded as the man scratched his chin. "We might get through this..." With a smile, he told her the plan he had in mind.


	12. Chapter 12

As the four made their way back to the Trancy garden, the manner only yards away. Finnie followed the two demons fearfully as Justine hid under his hat, her head peeking over his shoulder occasionally. "Remember Finnian," Sebastian turned. "Your job is only to protect Justine. Angel and I will handle Claude." The gardener nodded with a salute.

"I know all his fighting moves; they're not that different from the moves he uses to finish chores around the manner." Angel stated, moving the branches that blocked their path and revealed the large, fertile garden. "I'll let you know what he's going to do."

Even though Sebastian believed he could hold his own against Claude, he smiled at the offer as they crossed the line the amulet left.

They walked across the gardens, eyes peeled for the spider. "Looking for something, Michaelis?" Claude laughed from behind them as he leapt from the high roof top, landing in the grass with ease, and stood before them with a grin that was illuminated by the golden late morning sun. "You seem rather lost."

"I don't want trouble." Sebastian claimed. "Just return my daughter to her human form, and no harm will come to you or your master."

The Trancy butler's grin only widened. "No harm will come to me?" he asked with another victorious laugh. "Nothing you have can harm me anyway, Sebastian Michaelis."

Angel stepped up with her puppy pout. "Dad, last chance." she begged with widening, shining golden brown eyes. "Please do the right thing and not the easy cop out. Do it for me."

Claude's smile was whipped clean from his face as he furrowed his brows in confusion and loss. _Angel, you sway my decisions more than anything in this world._ he sighed in his thoughts. _...__Just not enough to over write my orders. _It didn't take long for him to shake the confusion from his expression as he readied his attack.

When he drew his hand back, Angel crashed and tumbled into Sebastian, both narrowly missing the spider web that shot from Claude's hand. "Stupid spider webs." she huffed under her breath. "I hate it when he does that."

Claude looked dumbfounded as he watched Angel help Sebastian back to his feet. _I still don't understand._ he conversed with himself. _Why help him and not your own father? How is friendship worth more than family? How could it be so important to anyone that you'd risk your life for a stranger that was never honest with you? _He then sighed. _If I don't understand that, then why should I expect her to fight with me when I've lied to her through her whole life? I couldn't even build the courage to tell her what her mother was._

Once he was over his shock, he growled and leapt in the air. The teen looked up skeptically as he crossed his arms. A golden glint brought her attention to his fingers. "He's going to throw his knives!" she warned quickly.

The Phantomhive butler smiled and reached for his own plethora of limitless silver knives. "This, I can fight on my own!" he claimed as he flew in the light blue sky, bare of clouds and the knives of silver and gold rained through the air and landed in the grass of the gardens.

While the butlers fought in midair, the sound of gun fire alerted the teen to Finnie. When she looked, she saw Hannah with her machine gun, firing at Finnie and the cat on his back at fifty bullets a second. Angel bolted to the human's side and instinctively grabbed the gardener and spread wings before swiftly zooming from the green earth to the baby blue and yellow gold sky.

Angel flew through the air, not even noticing the new altitude, and let go of Finnie when she reached a field not far, but far enough to be safe from the fight. "Stay there until the fight's over!" she shouted as her arms let him lose.

When he screamed and Justine cried a loud meow from the small drop she took in notice to the extensions on her back. Seeing the large, white wings flapping mindlessly to keep her in the air, she could only stare at them in curiosity. "...That's new..." she whispered to herself in awe. "Have those always been there?"

"Uh, Angel," Finnie called, recapturing her attention. "What about Sebastian?"

"Oh, yeah!" she perked up at the reminder. "There's a fight going on, isn't there?" she giggled to herself at her forgetfulness and zipped back to the Trancy gardens with such speed and agility, one would think she'd been flying her whole life instead of just learning of the wings' existence that day.

When she returned to the garden, she saw Sebastian get thrown down to the ground and a web come straight for him. Out of instinct, Angel zoomed right in the way of the web and was thrown up and over to crack the hard stone ground at her impact before Claude even knew what he'd done. "Angel!" he cried in worry. He ran over to his daughter but froze when he saw the wings.

He hadn't seen wings like those since before he was even a father and he was just another demon that was out searching for another victim to sign a contract with, when he met her mother centuries ago. Thoughts and memories flooded back from the sight of Angel and her wings, so weak and broken down; it reminded him of her mother's master, how he'd beat her day in and day out with the black, leather whip, much like how he just had with his silver web. He remembered the day she told him she loved him; even more so, he remembered his thoughts when he found out that he was going to be a father. The fear. The excitement. The worry. He remembered it all in a large, sudden wave. He didn't have much trust in his parenting abilities, especially not back then.

Because she was forbidden from bearing children, that being part of her Fallen Angel punishment, they kept her pregnancy a secret from all demons, reapers, angels, whoever could potentially hurt them or the unborn child. After she gave birth, she begged Claude to take the baby, claiming that she couldn't take any part in raising her; he was completely on his own.

His new daughter looked much like himself and little of her own mother, so it was easy to convince others that she was his biological daughter without anyone pointing fingers at her true mother as long as he kept his mouth shut. No one else knew about his love for anyone else, and he can take the harassment until everyone who asked would just get tired of trying and give up. Seconds after the baby was placed in his arms, the mother was gone with only one request, "Keep me a secret from her, she doesn't need to know, and she won't understand."

He figured that, since he was in this position anyway with no time to decide if it was a curse or a blessing, he'd figure out how to be a father as time passed. It wasn't until the centuries passed when he found that he knew less about how to be a father as his daughter grew into a young woman than he did when his daughter was just a new born babe in a bundle of blankets in his arms.

Though he didn't want to, he kept his final promise with the exception of her name. Looking down at the little, giggling bundle, he couldn't help the smile on his lips. "You're the last part of your mother's bright light left in my world of fiery darkness. You are my little puppy, my baby Angel."

Claude was snapped back to reality when the form of the teenage Angel staggered to her feet. She got in a fighting position, but the butler refused to fight as he slid back, shaking his head with concern laced brows. He backed away from her with bent, spread legs. "This is getting us nowhere." he announced with a deep huff as his chest continued to grow in and out of his white shirt deeply. "We can't continue fighting like this."

Angel looked at him skeptically as she straightened her stance. "...You don't want a physical fight anymore?" she asked as her father shook his head desperately. To that, Angel crossed her arms. "Then give us what we came for! Turn Justine back, or we keep on fighting! There's no in between."

"You know I can't." he replied, stabilizing himself on a wall before regaining the strength and composure to stand straight.

After some thought, the teen smirked. "Fine. Instead, let's have a contest. Just you and me." As she moved forward, she continued her thought, subconsciously folding her wings. "Whichever one of us can dance the longest wins. If I win, you turn Justine back into a human, and you don't make any attempt to kidnap (or catnap) her again."

Claude smiled. "If I win, then I get Justine, keep her as a cat here in the Trancy manner, you and no one from the Phantomhive manner, nor the reapers can take her back. She is completely mine."

Angel looked back at Sebastian, who obviously didn't like the odds as he gazed at her with worried wide eyes and sunk in his broad shoulders with his black nails in his teeth. The teen returned her golden brown eyes to the spider demon who only smiled at her.

It was obvious he had some evil plan up his sleeve. Just when it couldn't get any worse, Claude added, "Also, if you win, I'll answer all your questions about your mother, all with straight, honest, clear answers. No vague riddles, no tricks, no secrets."

This caught Angel off guard. That was the last thing she ever expected. She's spent over a thousand years wondering about her mother. Vague answers were enough when she was little, but she had more questions that Claude deliberately refused to answer. "One more thing." Claude added. "If you refuse, I win by default."

_I guess it's too late to back out then._ she thought. With a deep breath she asked with a blank gaze pointed to the spider, "When do we start?"

**. . .**

"How could you do that?!" Sebastian completely exploded as he paced back and forth in the cabin in the woods, throwing his arms to smack a point around the room as he scolded the teen that otherwise, he'd have no business scolding. Because it concerned his daughter, he took a large part of his anger out on the dog. "Compete against him, of ALL demons, to a dance competition?!"

Angel shrugged and bit her lip. "It seemed like a good idea when I mulled it over in my head."

The crow demon glanced over at Finnie hiding behind his knees in a corner and Justine still under his hat before he sighed and calmed down. "It's alright. What's done is done. At least you know how to dance, being Claude's daughter." With that, he crossed his arms after starting a record player that Justine took from the Phantomhive manner (Sebastian wondered where it disappeared to for months).

When the song was half over and Angel hadn't moved an inch, Sebastian twitched his eyebrow with shut eyes. "It's just fine. You're a demon of illusion, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, you can make an illusion of yourself dancing against him with more of a chance at winning?"

Angel shrugged her shoulders and gritted her teeth. "Well...in theory, I could, but my dummies only know what the original knows. I don't know how to dance like that, so neither would any dummy I make of myself."

"What about Drocell?" he asked. "What if I get Grell to bring him back, then he can make you into a puppet and get you to win."

"My dad's a spider!" Angel brought up. "He sees spider webs, which are nearly invisible to human eyes unless caught in just the right light. I think he would see puppet strings if we did that, which might have him win by default because I wouldn't be in control of my own body."

Hearing this, Sebastian whipped all emotion from his face and hovered over to the cat in the lap of the blonde gardener. "Justine, sweetie, you're my daughter, and I love you, but it looks like this is the true goodbye."

"Hey!" Angel shouted, offended at his lack of faith in her. "When I said dance contest, I meant a fight dance! Not an actual dance!"

"Well, Claude will expect an actual dance."

"No he doesn't! He knows I can't dance!"

"Where were you when he said that he doesn't want a physical fight? If he isn't expecting an actual dance, then why did he have you put so much on the line?"

It was then when it struck her and she collapsed on her knees. "...We're all dead..."

"Not quite." Sebastian stated as he stood and checked his pocket watch. "It's 1:03 now. We have until noon tomorrow for you to learn to dance."

Angel straightened her face at the demon in front of her. "I have two left feet. How am I going to pull this off?! What was I thinking?!"

"No worries." he stated. "Even if you fail, there might not be a chance for you to learn about your mother, which I'm sorry about, but there's still a chance that Justine will be restored. Exactly what did Claude say for if he wins?"

"No one from the Phantomhives, me, or the reapers can take her from him." she recited.

Sebastian worked out a (backup) plan in his mind before grabbing Angel and restarting the record player. "Well, if you really are not a well dancer, then we have a lot of work to do."

With some hours of practice, Angel got the tap dancing down, causing Sebastian to smile. "Perfect! From the top!" The dog demon complied and started dancing when the music started.

Not long after she started getting in the rhythm, Sebastian threw a string at her. With the string wrapped around her ankle and yanked the string back, knocking her down on the hard ground. She looked up at Sebastian with shock filled eyes. "What was that for?" she asked as she returned to her feet. "I was on a roll!"

"You know as well as I that Claude will do that with his webs." he reasoned with a straight face. "The contest is whoever can dance the longest, not whoever can make the best sounds with their feet." With that, he restarted the record player and stood beside her. "Now, pretend I'm Claude." They started dancing before Sebastian whipped out the string again and Angel swung her leg out of the way. She narrowly missed it, but returned to her dance choppily, leaving the disturbance noticeable, but not so much that it caused her to stop.

The crow demon smiled as they both continued to dance. "Good." he complimented with a nod. "But you need to strike back. What weapon do you use?"

Angel thought for a moment, not daring to stop her feet. With a smile spread across her lips, she spun around with a tap and continued the little clicks in her heals. Seconds later, a dozen copies of herself surrounded Sebastian in a circle, all dancing exactly the same way, all facing him.

Sebastian smiled and looked around, searching for the real Angel. "Use your demon power to confuse your opponent, quite clever." He then used his string to attack each dummy, and watched them disappear into brown and gold dust before he found the real one and tripped her, causing the remaining dummies to disappear. "...But too easily solved." he continued his thought before helping her up. "Try again."

For hours and hours, they continued to dance nonstop, attacking each other with demonic powers and avoiding them with impressive flips and flexibility.

Angel eventually dropped to the floor from exhaustion. "Sebastian," she huffed. "I think that's enough practice. If anything, dad would be surprised that I can dance at all."

"You need to be able to avoid every weapon he could throw at you, and continue dancing." he rationalized. "He can change the ground you're standing on into ice to make you slip, or shoot webs at you until you fall, or anything!"

The teen just looked at him, straining her neck to look up at him from the floor. "He's my dad." she reminded. "I know what he could do."

"Even worse," Sebastian continued as he knelt down to the demon nearly passed out on the floor. "He can simply out dance you; keep going until you exhaust yourself...just like now."

"I need to rest, then." she stated, getting up from the floor and sitting on the bench.

Sebastian furrowed his brows in irritation as she sat down. He looked down at his watch that read 2:56. He'd been counting down the minutes before the competition as the number dwindled from 22 hours and 57 minutes to 9 hours and 4 minutes. "But-"

"Five minutes." she requested. "Just five minutes of sleep, that's all I ask for." He didn't like it, but Sebastian nodded in understanding and walked away, looking at Justine cuddled in sleeping Finnie's lap as Angel lay down on the bench and closed her eyes.

The crow demon smiled as he sat beside the gardener and scratched the cat's ear, earning a deep purr, only causing him to smile more as she moved her head closer to his hand, leaning into the soothing scratch that reassured her that he was still there. He couldn't help but wonder if this plan didn't work and Angel lost.

_Would I ever see my girl again if Angel failed?_ he wondered to himself. _Would she ever even have thumbs again? Would Canterbury provide the help I had in mind? If not, then would Thompson and Timber even be able to? Angel was right in the since that those two would be in trouble, but how much?_ He looked down at his watch._ 2 minutes,_ he thought to himself. _3 more left, then back to work._

As the seconds ticked by, Sebastian leaned against the wall with a deep sigh, letting his mind wander. Though he didn't sleep, like many other demons, he still dreamed. He's had dreams as crazy as a land on a rainbow filled with singing little people in lollipops, live scarecrows who had brains of straw (though more functional than most human brains), breathing tin men who cry tears of sorrow with no heart to break, talking lions without the courage to face their own shadows, and a city of green emeralds. He's also had dull, straight forward dreams of his past memories over the centuries; his own childhood.

As he watched Justine grow, he remembered himself at that age; the bright, innocent toddler/childhood, confusing and life changing pre-teens, rebellious teenage years, all concludes to a calm, understanding, and happy adulthood. He honestly couldn't wait for his daughter to go in that transition between teen and adult, then maybe she'd be happy, possibly settle down and have a family of her own (with a true demon he hoped, though he doubted she'd fall for a demon after being in a relationship with Finnie. For some reason above the father's head, humans romantically interested her more than demons or even reapers. _As long as she's happy,_ he concluded. _I shouldn't care who she'd settle down with in the far…far…_**VERY**_ far future_).

He looked out the window of the small cabin and gazed up at the stars. At some point in his gazing, his eyes shut off and he only saw his dream world, hearing the sounds of laughter and music play in the back of his head as he traveled deeper in the land, completely allowing time to slip from his normally firm grasp.


	13. Chapter 13

"…stian…bastian…SEBASTIAN!" The demon popped his red eyes open in the pouring sunlight. He didn't even remember closing them. He looked up to see Angel shaking his shoulder. "You awake?"

"Awake?" he asked as he stood. "I was never asleep. Demons don't require sleep."

The dog demon tilted her head in confusion before shaking it off. "Sebastian, what time is it? You have the only clock in this cabin."

He looked down at his pocket watch and jumped out of his skin. "10:14!" he shouted. "We only have 1 hour 46 minutes left!" He quickly rushed to the record player and snatched his makeshift web. "Let's get back to practice."

They practiced until the very last second before Sebastian took in a deep breath and Angel's blood ran cold as Justine widened her eyes and hid under Finnie's shirt, who gulped loud and clear.

The whole walk to the Trancy's, Sebastian quizzed Angel. "If he shoots webs at you?"

"I jump out of the way and confuse him with dummies."

"And if he changes the scenery of the ground you're standing on?"

"I move to a better place to dance with as much grace and speed as possible."

Claude looked down at Angel with a grin as he stood high and proud, beaming in confidence. From an elevated balcony, Alois sat with his legs crossed, arms leaned on the cushioned arm rests, a smug look on his round face and devilishly furrowed blond brows. The Trancy Earl was a fourteen year old boy with fluffy light blond hair to complement his rain blue eyes as he smiled widely with his purple jacket open to reveal his white shirt, green vest, and short black shorts that led to his boots that were tied up to his mid-thigh. Next to him was Ciel sitting straight and looking forward in his neutral, serious expression in his deep ocean blue eye. Standing next to each were their maids with tea and sweets on trays in their arms.

"How did Ciel even know about this dance competition?" Angel asked, gazing at the masters in anxiety.

Finnie bit his lip before he shrugged in consideration, almost in guilt. "Well..."

~flashback~

Justine looked over at her best friend sleeping on the bench and her father sitting limply against the wall with his eyes shut. She turned her eyes to Finnie and flicked her tail across his nose, effectively waking him. "Wha-!"

"Shh!" she shushed him with her pointed ears folded back as she looked around at the undisturbed demons. "I think the master should know about this." she whispered.

The gardener looked down at her with confused turquoise eyes before carefully slipping Sebastian's watch from his hand. "It's 3:35 in the morning. I think everyone would be asleep." he stated, placing the watch in Sebastian's open palm and scooting away from the demon butler.

"If we tell Meyrin, she'll tell the master first thing in the morning for sure." she stated as she leapt to the door and scratched at it lightly. "Come on!"

"It's pitch black out there!" he reasoned.

Justine simply looked up at him before pointing to herself. "One of the best things about being a cat, night vision. Now, come on!"

Justine instructed Finnie which way to go, avoiding him from knocking into a tree or stumbling over the bones until they finally made it to the Phantomhive manner, quickly walking down to the maid's room. The cat leapt on the bed and started to pull on the servant's night shirt and tug her out of the small bed with the cloth in her teeth. "Come on, come on, come ON!" she grumbled to herself before she lost her grip and flew across the room, crashing into the shelf and causing everything to fall on the floor with a hard thud.

Meyrin jumped awake and quickly lit a candle to see what happened. When she looked, she saw Justine dizzily swaying from side to side and trying to recapture her balance with the stars circling her head. The maid looked at her in curiosity. "Why is a cat in here?" she thought aloud.

Justine shook her head straight and looked up at her. "No time to explain." she stated.

Meyrin jumped upon hearing the feline speak as she screamed, "A CAT THAT TALKS! Are you that kind of cat that Tanaka always talks about from Japan?! THAT'S SCARY! DON'T KILL ME!" The cat face planted her paw before leaping on her shoulders and shutting her mouth with her tail.

"Meyrin! It's me, Justine!" she stated. When the woman calmed a little in recognition, she opened her mouth to ask questions but was cut off by the feline. "I don't have forever to explain. Tomorrow at noon, there will be a dance off at the Trancy manner between Claude and Angel Feastus. Sebastian is training Angel right now as we speak (or at least, should be). This dance off determines if I can come back at all after tonight. The master must know that there is a high chance I might never leave the Trancy's again."

Meyrin nodded in determination. "I'll be sure to pass on the message."

The cat smiled before coming as close to a hug as she could to her. "I'd really miss you." she stated before she leapt out of her arms and out the cracked door to return to the woods with the young gardener.

~end flashback~

Finnie opened his mouth to say something before he shrugged overly dramatic. "I have no idea how the master would know."

Angel broke a slight sweat when she looked back the audience of the masters until Sebastian noticed this and leaned down to breath in her ear, "Just remember what we've worked on." She nodded shakily and the butler and gardener left to join their master, the cat coming out from under the tacky, tan gardening shirt when they made it, but still never left Finnie's shoulders.

Alois smiled wider as the two Feastus demons stood on the outside dance floor. "Let the dance begin!" he laughed as Canterbury played the record player and the dance had begun.

It was a smooth start, the taps and clicks of their heels harmonized rhythmically with each other until Angel concentrated too much on her feet. Claude took advantage of this and shot sticky webs at each foot. "Angel! Look out!" Sebastian warned.

The dog demon simply leapt in the air, avoiding the webs and landed on the tip of the stone fountain on one foot while spinning on that single toe, pausing her dance for a mere second before leaping back to the ground to continue her dance.

_I need to fight back._ she thought to herself as she shut her eyes and concentrated hard. With a spin, flip, and flick of the wrist, the whole courtyard was filled with hundreds of her identical dummies, all dancing exactly the same way with her leading the motions a millisecond before the clones.

Claude spent what felt like hours attacking each clone and dummy, watching them disappear into brown and gold dust. Soon, he was down to two left. One of them was the real Angel, the other was a dummy. The question was, which one was which. As Claude began to attack one of them, he didn't appear to have any doubts, but in his mind, he silently begged, _Please don't be Angel._

With a hop, skip, and leap, he kicked one of them down square on the head, relieved of the dust that coated his shoes as he danced of the remains of the clone, almost mocking the teen's attempt to attack. Angel looked down, nearly petrified of what she just saw her father do as they continued recycling taps. _...__Thank you for knowing that I wasn't that one...or did you know that at all?_ she had to wonder as her feet tapped away the time. _...__He wouldn't have done that if he didn't know that it wasn't me...right?_

The spider demon decided to mix things up and make it snow on her alone. It took only seconds for her taps to be inaudible, which might have her lose because of lack of sounds from her feet. She didn't know if it would or not, but she didn't want to take any chances, so she spread her wings and zoomed from the snowy square and on the roof, where she continued gracefully.

_Come on, what else could I do?_ she asked herself before it struck her and she waved her hand to the ground. Right in front of Claude, black and red dust started to swirl and take the form of Sebastian.

With a smile, the Phantomhive butler watched the spider dodge Clone Sebastian's punches, kicks, and silverware. "That's new." he stated with a smile. "I didn't think she'd include me in this dance in that way…is that really what my hair looks like from the back?"

Ciel smiled with a small huff of laughter. "That girl is quite smart. I take it that you taught her this, Sebastian."

"Not this directly, my Lord." he answered with his right hand reaching across his chest. "I simply taught her the basics of the tap dance."

"Sebastian," Meyrin caught his attention. "When this dance is over, are you going to take your position back?"

"Most likely." he answered. "If you recall, the master ordered me to be excused from my butler duties until I recover my daughter, and this dance confirms if she will be restored to her human form or left to remain as a cat. If Angel wins, she will be restored. If Claude wins, she will remain."

"Your butler's right, Ciel Phantomhive." Alois stated cruelly as he looked at the maid, butler, and master. "When Claude wins, not only will your butler's daughter stay as a cat for the rest of her pathetic nine lives, but she will also stay here with no hope of escape. It's Claude's brilliant idea. What do you think?"

"I don't care much for that plan." the Earl answered as he kept his blue eye on Claude, Angel, and the Clone Sebastian, sitting straight and placing his hands on his knees. "It leaves my butler depending on your butler's daughter."

"I know!" the Trancy boy giggled before turning to his maid. "Hannah! More tea!"

Things were going well in Angel's favor with the Clone Sebastian fighting Claude with all the accuracy of the real Sebastian, until Claude took the clone and threw it at her while freezing the roof she danced on. She flicked her wrist to destroy the clone, but the lingering dust caught in her face, distracting her just long enough for her to slip from the roof and face plant the hard concrete of the side walk below her. As she fell, Claude made his last steps of his dance before stopping. He danced a whole three minutes longer than her. The rules were clear when the challenge was accepted.

Sebastian widened his eyes and the other Phantomhive servants, including their master, leaned forward in their seats with shocked, wide eyes. Alois simply smiled as he turned to his maid. "Hannah! Get the cat!"

With much struggle, Justine clung to Finnie for dear life until their grips slipped and the cat was being taken inside, screaming, struggling, and squirming out of the demon maid's grip as she cried. "No! Let me go! That was rigged! REMATCH! REMATCH! DADDY! HELP ME!"

Angel looked up with tear filled eyes as Claude towered over her with a grinning mask. Leaning over her and adjusting his glasses as she just laid there with shock dripping from her expression, the spider demon simply said two words that made the teen wish she never suggested this competition. These two words were the words she feared would escape the spider's lips and would destroy her hope of not only saving her friend, but learning about her mother, a woman she wondered about her whole life. "I win."


	14. Chapter 14

It was small, dark, and cold where Hannah tossed Justine. The cat looked around in fright as she backed in the corner with her ears pointed down and tail curled around her as meek protection. "Please." Justine begged through her sobs. "Don't do this. What did I ever do to you or your master?"

Hannah looked at her with a cold blue eye and answered, "You were born a Michaelis." With that, she shut the heavy door and turned the lock, leaving the room only lit by a small barred window in the top with only the sound of heavy cries and water droplets. Justine curled in herself and hid under her paws.

Angel again locked herself in her room. This time, instead of saying anything at all when Claude came by to talk her out; she just lay on her bed and cried. Finnie did the same when he returned to the manner.

Sebastian however, didn't do any of that, still being in exile until the task of saving his daughter was complete. He still had a backup plan, but it still depended on another Trancy servant's support. He came up to one of the three triplets (he couldn't tell which one) and sighed. "I know you and your brothers have helped my daughter in the past. Can you do it again?"

The triplet averted his red eyes and scratched his chin before he shrugged. "...Can't you talk?" the demon asked as the triplet only shook his head. "Did your master order you to not talk?" He was answered with a nod.

"Alright, will you help Justine escape?" The purple haired demon smiled smally as he pulled out a key. Sebastian smiled back as he exchanged his plan, telling him step by step what to do before the triplet nodded. "Excellent. What's your name again?" When the triplet knocked on a tree, the crow demon smiled wide. "I am now twice in your debt Timber." The triplet smiled and left as Sebastian returned to the woods to watch from the tree line. He has done all he could do for now.

Timber casually walked inside, passing his brothers. "Sebastian just asked if I can let Justine out." he whispered to them soft enough so only they could hear.

"Is Justine the cat that Angel and Claude were fighting over earlier today?" Thompson asked.

"Well, either way, we can't do it." Canterbury huffed. "We don't even have the right key."

"Hannah, Claude, and Alois are the only ones with the keys to that room." Thompson agreed.

"I know, but I couldn't tell Sebastian 'no', I mean, we have helped him quite a lot in the past few days." Timber reasoned.

"You couldn't tell him 'no' because the master ordered us to not talk to others at all, that's why we have to whisper, remember?" Canterbury reminded.

"But Timber's right." Thompson stated. "We might as well finish what we started."

With a deep breath, Timber and Thompson walked up to Angel's room. Each one knocked at the same time, telling her who it was. "Come in." she called as Thompson and Timber came in. "Where's Canterbury?" she asked before she got whispers in her ears.

"Canterbury had other things to do."

"Listen carefully if you want your friend back."

"I'm going to take the key to the room from Hannah."

"After that, I'm going to unlock the room and let her out."

"All we need you to do is distract your dad."

Angel furrowed her brows as she froze in slight shock at the impossible request. "...W-what?" she asked.

"I know it's a lot to ask."

"Especially after this afternoon."

"But we can't distract him."

"Otherwise, he'd know something was wrong."

The dog demon returned to her bed and sighed as she plopped on the mattress and clutched a large, soft pillow in her arms, using it to hide her face in shame. "He'd know something was up the moment he sees me out of this room."

"Maybe not."

"If you talk to him,"

"Act like you want him to tutor you in dancing,"

"Then he might just be happy that you want to improve."

"And he'd happily help you for the only purpose of fun."

"And family."

"And happiness."

Angel sighed before she put on a brave face and sat up. "If it'll help...then I'll do it."

The triplets smiled and bowed slightly before they left, one going down the hall to follow Hannah, the other going in a random room to pretend to do chores while Angel left her room to search for Claude. "This'll work. This'll work. This'll work." she repeated to herself as she marched down the hall. When she found Claude mixing a batter in the kitchen, she took in a deep breath and came up to him with a smile. "Hey dad!" she stated as happily as she could muster.

The sound of her voice caused him to freeze and flick his head to face her before he sighed and returned to his mixing. "I thought you were upset." he stated. "You seemed depressed after the dancing contest this afternoon."

"Well, I got over it." she stated as convincing as she could. "I actually kinda wanted you to teach me those awesome moves you did when you were dancing AND fighting that clone I threw at you at the same time."

"You faired pretty well yourself in that dance." he complimented, cracking eggs in the flowery batter before he sprinkled sugar in the bowl and whisked the mixture. "I didn't expect you to last so long. What exactly happened to you in those woods yesterday?"

Angel shrugged. "Sebastian only taught me the basics." she stated, leaning on the counter as she watched him mix the ingredients in the bowl. "Apparently, it wasn't enough against your awesome skills. I want to learn how to dance from a master like you!"

Hearing this, Claude smiled warmly, much like he did when she was a little girl. "Alright." he answered. "In the meantime," he sighed, gesturing to the bowl of the golden batter that was powdered lightly with sugar. "do you want to help me make the master's sweets? It could use some more milk and sugar."

The dog demon beamed a smile. "Sure~!"

With Claude distracted and blinded by fatherhood, Thompson came up to Hannah, causing her to jump when she turned around before huffing out the breath she held back for the brief moment. "You scared me." she breathed before she returned to her dusting. "What is it that you need?" she asked as she kept her hand busy with the stick of black feathers.

Thompson grabbed the maid's shoulder and slowly turned her around to face him. He gently tucked her silvery white hair behind her ear and stroked her tanned cheek lightly. As he slowly and gently placed his other hand on her other cheek, he gently pulled her lips into his own. At first, Hannah tensed from the action, but as Thompson deepened the kiss and made it more lustrous, she melted and shut her eyes, kissing him back and wrapping her arms around his neck to deepen it further.

When Hannah was distracted, Thompson reached in the back of her corset and slipped out the key he needed before hiding it in his own pocket and breaking from the kiss. Hannah smiled when she looked at Thompson's lips and used her thumb to wipe it clean of the purple stain her lipstick left. The dark haired demon's face turned bright red and he sprinted out the room, leaving Hannah giggling at his childish act.

Thompson rejoined Timber, who saw the kiss through the crack in the door and snatched the key from his brother's love sick limp hand. Shaking his head in annoyance, Timber continued down the hall and down the steps. He continued on until he reached a large thick door with a complicated looking lock.

The triplet scratched his head as he looked down at the key in his hand, shifting his eyes between the key and the lock. It seemed like the lock had three keyholes instead of just one, which confused him. Shrugging, Timber preceded to unlock the bolt with the key he had.

At the sound of one lock click, Justine looked up in wonder. "H-hello?" she called as she sniffled and wiped away tears with her little paws, though she was sure whoever on the other side couldn't hear her. "Who's there?"

The purple haired demon knocked three times to try to tell her his identity. The cat tilted her head in confusion. "...Three identical knocks...triplets?" Timber nodded though she couldn't see him. "One knock 'yes', two knocks 'no'?" she offered as the demon knocked once.

Hearing the 'yes' knock, Justine sat on the stone ground. "Why are you here? Did Claude order you to take me to him or something?" Two knocks. "Alois?" Two knocks. "Hannah?" Two knocks.

Justine thought hard before she muttered, "I would say my dad, but as far as I know, you guys and my dad aren't on the same side." One knock. The cat perked up. "'Yes', you guys aren't on the same side?" Two knocks. "'Yes', it was my dad who sent you?" One knock.

The cat demon smiled as Timber worked on the other locks with the key he had. "What's taking so long?" she asked impatiently. "Don't you have the right key?" Timber hesitated, but knocked once. "How many keys do you have?" she asked as he knocked once to represent the one key he had. "How many keyholes are there?" she asked. Timber knocked once for each keyhole.

He smacked his head hard on the door as the answer hit him. Three keyholes, three people with the keys, three keys. While one in his hand was in the previous possession of Hannah Annafellows, there were still two more keys he needed. One from his master, Earl Alois Trancy, and one from the mastermind butler, Claude Feastus.

**. . .**

Angel smiled as she and Claude put the pastries in the oven. "I'll be right back." he stated, ruffling her hair a little as he passed her.

The dog demon smiled as he left, but the smile faded when she saw Timber in the doorway without Justine. "What's wrong?" she asked. "What happened?"

"There are three locks on the door." he whispered. "I have the one Thompson got from Hannah, and I got the other from the master's jacket pocket."

"How'd you get close enough?"

"The jacket was hanging on the coat hanger, and the key was slipping out of the pocket as is." he shrugged. "I still need one key."

"Where is it?" she asked, truly confused and not understanding what he was hinting at.

"Three guesses."

Angel slumped when it pieced together in her mind. "My dad has it, doesn't he?" Timber could only nod. The teen sighed and smacked her head. "Right when I thought things couldn't get any harder!"

The purple haired demon looked over on the counter and nudged the dog demon. "What?" Angel barked before her attention was brought to the golden shine in the light. She slowly walked over and removed the towel that covered the object. Her eyes widened when she saw the golden key on the counter just waiting to be reunited with its matching keyhole. The teen hesitantly took it in her hand and furrowed her brows. "...That was surprisingly easy."

"What was easy?" came the voice of the butler in the door way. Angel quickly hid the metal behind her back and smiled as Claude looked over at the triplet. "Get back to work." he ordered as the demon left the room, leaving Angel alone with Claude. The teen smiled nervously as Claude smiled deceptively kind at her. "Whatever is the matter?" he asked. "Did you already forget that you wanted me to teach you how to dance like a true Trancy Butler?"

"No." she scoffed, shaking her head a little too intensely.

He smiled wider as he adjusted his glasses and turned back to the door, strolling out of the room to a new location. "Then I suggest we start quickly while the master is occupied."

With Angel left alone in the kitchen, and needed to follow her father, she slipped the key in her coat pocket before she left.

When the two made it to a large, bare room, possibly the ball room (but Angel made an effort to stay out of those types of girly-girl rooms, so she wouldn't know for sure what the room was meant to be), for them to practice in, Claude looked over at his daughter. "I just remembered I need to finish something really quickly." he stated as he started to leave the room. "Don't do too much while I'm gone." With that he left.

The second he was out of sight, Timber came in the room as Angel just stared at the door her father left in wonder. She gave him the key absent mindedly as she thought aloud, "...Something's not right." The triplet looked at her oddly before following her gaze to the door the butler marched trough. "...My dad's up to something..." As the purple haired demon put the remaining key in his pocket, Angel drifted to the door. "...I'm going to...follow him." Timber nodded and left for the door to complete his own task.


	15. Chapter 15

Angel curiously followed her father as he weaved through the halls with purpose. Watching him completely pass by the study, master's bedroom, library, office, etc. she only grew more curious of his destination as she tried to fit the miss matching pieces in her head. _He helps me find Justine, only to kidnap her. He allows me to keep her as a pet cat, only to take her away and lock her up in an easily escapable shed. He keeps an essential key to her current prison for himself, only to leave it laying around for anyone to pick it up. Even the way he worded his riddle when I first asked him to turn Justine human back when I called her Luna, 'English into Purrs, Fingers into Paws'. If he really wanted it to stay over my head, he'd just keep his riddle out of it. It's like he was trying to give me a clue as to what happened, only to put in such an effort to hide it all from me... What the heck is he up to?_

She tried to remember what was happening in each instant. _He probably only helped look for Justine so he could kidnap her._ she concluded. _As for the pet cat thing, he most likely only did that to keep his cover. At that time, I didn't know that was Justine, but once I did know, that's when he locked her up._

_But, if he could lock her in a sealed vault, why'd he lock her in an old shed that she was easily able to dig herself out?_ That question still stumped her as she wracked her brain and followed him through the red and golden halls as quietly and unnoticeably as she could. She soon saw him march around the outside of the house around the basement area.

She watched carefully as Claude disappeared behind a door after looking around to be sure he wasn't followed, at which time Angel hid behind the corner. Once the door closed, she tried to follow him, but she was greeted with two opposing hallways, both of which didn't have Claude as she sighed and returned to the room he left her in.

What her eyes missed completely, same as most other eyes, was the slightly bouncing string of web with its eight legged creator gliding down its path. When Claude was completely positive that he lost any nosy followers, he returned to his human form and continued to follow the web.

He nervously approached his destination, a hole in the ground shielded by bars in a barren, concrete part of the garden. His golden eyes looked down at the cat that lay in the room below him, finally asleep from crying consistently. With a deep breath, he looked around once again before sprinkling his hand over the hole. When the cat started to groan and stir, he made a hasty retreat until he heard the groans die down, allowing him to peek in once again. He couldn't help but smile when he saw the whole form itself growing larger to its former size.

Straining his eyes to look at the now furless face, he wracked his brain on what was missing. Soon, it hit him and he pulled out the purple square glasses from his breast pocket and attached it to the end of a slowly extending web as he carefully lowered the spectacles. When they tapped the ground, he cut off the web from his hand and watched as the string fell on the glasses weightlessly.

With a smile, he turned back and walked away, adjusting his glasses once more. "Salt into Sugar, Kitten into Human, Tears into Smiles. That's what makes a good father."

He briskly returned to his daughter in the dancing room, where he gave off a polite, small smile. "Now, shall we begin your dancing lessons?"

**. . .**

Timber scrambled the third key in its lock and pulled the large heavy door open, waking the room's inhabitant. His red eyes widened as he saw the form push herself from the ground, her black sweater slipping a little from her shoulder. She looked around in a haze, seeing everything blurred together. Squinting her eyes at the door, she asked, "Who's there?" as she backed away.

The triplet looked down at the purple glasses on the floor and picked them up from the stone, ripping away the odd sticky string on it before opening them and slipping them in front of her eyes. Justine readjusted her glasses before she looked down at her hand. It was then when she looked at herself more closely. Though it's been weeks possibly, she recognized the red blouse and black pants anywhere.

To be sure it was true, she reached her hands to the top of her head and felt around. There was no point on her head, which indicated that the, pointed ears she'd grown tired of were finally gone. She bit her pink lip and smiled. "...Is it true?" she asked as she looked at her hands again. "Am I really back?"

The demon in front of her pulled out a hand mirror and showed her the reflection. With widened, interested blue hued green eyes, she had to touch every facial feature she saw, from her lips to her nose to her cheeks to her eyes to her eyebrows to her forehead before she grabbed chunks of her hair and just squeezed it in spasms. With a growing smile, Justine giggled, "I can't believe it! I'm human!"

Out of pure joy, Justine jumped in Timber's arms before she reexamined herself. "I can't believe this!" she exclaimed. "I guess Claude's powers must've worn off!" She giggled once again before Timber shushed her. "Oh, right." The teen giggled a little before shutting up.

With that, the triplet peeked his head around both corners and scanned the area before nodding to Justine, giving her the 'All Clear'. Quietly and sneakily, the two left the stone vault and proceeded through the halls with much caution. They creaked up the steps from the basement and Timber walked in the kitchen first. Seeing no one else around, he nodded for the teen to follow and he guided her through the royal golden halls of the mansion.

At some point, they passed by the room where the Feastus demons practiced their dancing. The cat demon smiled a little, seeing her friend so happy in her father's company, until she looked over at the door, causing Claude to look and both demons in the hall to scramble out of sight. "What is it?" the spider asked, still eyeing the door.

"...N-nothing dad." Angel answered hastily, shaking her head. "I just thought I saw something. It was probably just the triplets." she stated before smiling at her father. "Back to dancing?"

Justine and Timber continued to sneak around the corners. Once they nearly made it outside, they heard a loud, "Hey!" from behind them. Thinking quickly, Justine shrank into her cat form and leapt into Timber's arms just before Hannah approached them. "Timber? What are you doing with that feline?"

After a second, the triplet leaned in close to the maid's ear and whispered, "I'm only taking her back where she belongs."

"Ah." she nodded. "She escaped the vault I assume." With a sigh, she made a move to take the cat from him. "Well then, let me just-" When Timber refused, Hannah looked at him oddly. "...Do you think you can get her in a more secure place?" she asked as the purple haired demon nodded. To this the woman sighed. "I'll leave you to it then, just don't forget to let Claude know."

He nodded before he continued to leave the manner, the cat still in his arms. "You can probably change back now." he whispered to her.

"And risk someone catching me? No way. I'll wait until we're off this property." she reasoned back as the demon servant carried her to the woods.

Timber made it to the entrance to the bone path before he put her down as unnoticeably as possible. Justine rushed to the bushes and looked back up at him with a smile. "Thank you." she stated before going deeper in the woods and gradually returning to her human form.

**. . .**

Angel looked out the window when her dance lessons with Claude were finished. The spider demon couldn't help but watch her as she gazed at the white fluffy clouds, not enough to block out the sun, but enough to notice their existence. "Angel, are you alright?" he asked, showing rare, genuine concern in his tone.

"It's just my friend." she sighed. "I don't think anyone deserves to be torn from family, not like that. What did she ever do to you?"

Claude thought for a second before he smiled. "If you want, we can visit her." he stated. "The conditions of the dance competition were only that you cannot free her. I never said you cannot visit with her."

Angel looked up at him with wide worried eyes. "...v-visit?"

"In fact," he stated with his smile only growing. "I'll show you to her vault now. Let you inside, allow you to talk with her, play with her, keep her company for an hour or so,"

The dog demon shrunk in her shoulders. She couldn't help but wonder if Timber finished helping Justine escape or if he was still working on it. The last thing the teen wanted was to be on her way down there with her father and pass by Timber and Justine going the other way. Not only would that be awkward, but that would be like someone tattooing **'****GUILTY**' or'**TRAID****ER**' on both of their foreheads in bold black letters. Before Angel could answer, Claude was already standing by the door and looking back at her, waiting for her to join him. With a deep, nervous breath, she followed him and kept her eyes peeled for the demon and cat.

The whole walk there was nerve wracking. Each step she took was very precise and clear, nowhere close to relaxed and shuffled, like she normally would when it was just her and her father. If she were walking on sand, you'd see her foot clean in the sand with no scrape whatsoever; the only way to make it any cleaner, even slightly, was if she simply stood there, and flew straight up without moving her feet an inch.

Her golden brown eyes started to redden from the lack of blinks she allowed. She was afraid of what she could miss in one blink as she spun her head around so fast, her long, brown, slightly curled hair smacked her face.

Angel's arms were tensely folded in on herself, nearly ripping her tail coat. Her back and shoulders ached from keeping her arms like that, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't relax them at all. Her neck ached from whipping her head around everywhere, as well as from her spine being so tense; still, she didn't have the will power to stretch it out and relax the squashed muscles down the spine.

The teen's stomach flipped every which way, making her feel sick. She even felt the churning of the organ start to-

Oh, look; they made it to the vault.

Claude smiled as he stepped aside to show the slightly ajar steal door. As Angel pushed it open, her eyes widened when she saw that the room was empty. Raising a brow, she looked up at her still smiling father. "...Dad..." she stated.

The butler only shifted his golden gaze to her, raising his black brows slightly and giving her a little "Hm?" to show she had his attention, but allowed him to bite his cheeks in a failed attempt to keep from smiling wider.

"...Normally, right now, you'd be furious that someone you were keeping prisoner escaped... Why are you smiling like that?" When Claude only bit his lower lip harder and harder, averting his eyes to the ceiling and the floor before returning his eyes to her, it all slowly clicked in place in her head. All the mismatching pieces of the puzzle started to form a picture.

As a reaction, she stomped over to him, ripped off her glove, and slapped him straight across his face, leaving a red mark. Before Claude could react, or even look at her again, she toppled him in a giant hug.

Claude couldn't remember the last time she hugged him like that, it must've been decades at least, but he still hugged her back just as tight, if not tighter. "Why did you do all of that?" Angel asked as a salty dampness grew on the butler's coat. "Why go through the trouble of helping when you just end up hurting everything, then go back to helping?"

"I had to." he answered, squeezing her tighter. "I was caught between the master's orders and your happiness." She cried happily as she clutched his coat in her fists. "If I had completely and openly helped you help the Michaelis', then the master might've broken our contract, and we'd go another five years, maybe more, without food. I had to act like I was being outsmarted."

Angel just smiled as she nodded. "I get it now." she stated. "Thanks...for not choosing a side."

**. . .**

Justine wandered through the woods until she finally made it to the Phantomhive manner. At the end of the trail, waiting was none other than Sebastian. "Dad!" she called, catching his attention.

He stopped twiddling his thumbs nervously and snapped his head up. "J-Justine?" he called as he got up from the stump and cautiously approached her, slowly reaching his hands out to her, not believing his own eyes and under the belief that it was a hallucination (yes, even demons fall for hallucinogens...even though Sebastian never took any drugs). "How did you change back?" he asked after gripping her shoulders and taking in the sight of her opposable thumbs, straight back, long legs, and round face, accepting that the image before him was truly his daughter.

"It's really me!" she stated with joy. Hearing that, Sebastian smiled widely and collapsed her in a hug, afraid that if he ever let her go, she'd disappear again. "I changed back this morning." Justine choked before the crow demon let up a little on his hug...a little. "I guess Claude's powers must've worn off." she stated.

Sebastian knew better. With powers like his, it doesn't just wear off; she could've been a cat forever had he allowed it. With one more squeeze, the butler released her and lightly pushed her in the manner. "Go inside; let everyone know that you're fine. I have something I need to do quickly before I resume my butler duties." Justine smiled and complied with her father's request.

The crow demon watched as his daughter ran up to the manner. The first thing she did was zoom through the gardens, crashing into Finnie and squeezing him tight before smacking her lips on his. Though it took a while for him to understand what happened, he returned the kiss in full after moving his large straw hat in just the right angle to block off peeping eyes. Sebastian smiled as he started down the road to the Trancy's.

When he reached his destination, he knocked on the door politely; answered by the very two demons he came to see. "Angel, Claude, there is something I'd like to say to both of you that I doubt you wish for your master to hear."

"Master Alois is having his snack with Hannah." Angel stated up-tight and properly. "You can say what you want right here."

The visiting demon nodded before turning to the teen. "I'm sorry I doubted your loyalty to my daughter." he stated. "I just thought you should know that Justine is now happily safe in the Phantomhive manner." The dog demon smiled at the success before he continued. "As a reward for your actions, you may come to see her and visit whenever you'd like for as long as you'd like."

Angel smiled and nodded happily to the butler. "Thank you, sir."

The crow demon nodded and turned to her father. "Claude, I know it was you who returned her to her human form, giving her all her previous demon and reaper abilities. For that, I thank you." Sebastian bowed a little in thanks before he sighed. "Unfortunately, all I have to show my gratitude is to wipe the slate clean between us as of now."

Claude smiled and bowed his head slightly. "That is already more than I could ever ask for."

As Sebastian began his journey to return to his butler duties, Claude and Angel closed the door with smiling faces. They saw the dawn together as co-workers, but watched the dusk as a family. With a smile, Angel looked up at her father. "...Dad," she called. Claude looked down at her with happy, but questioning eyes. With his attention on her, she bumped into him in a big hug. "You and me against the world."


	16. Chapter 16

It was just another peaceful day at the Phantomhive manner. The birds were singing, the sun was shining golden and bright, there was not a single cloud in the bright blue sky, everything was back to normal- "WREAW!"

...Well, almost everything.

Sebastian jumped at the cry before looking over to where the sound came from. He saw none other than his daughter, now a full cat, leap out of the manner and tremble in Sebastian's arms. "Justine, whatever is the matter?" he asked.

"D-dog." the kitten stuttered.

To this, the demon was confused. "A dog? But Pluto hasn't been here in nearly two years." he stated with furrowed brows. "How can-" he was cut off by a growl as a dog three times the size of the cat in his arms came out in the light from the darkness of the manner. Her eyes glowed yellow in rage and her razor teeth were bared as she growled deeply. Every brown and black hair on her stood up on end, making her look much larger and much more frightening. Seeing the dog, Sebastian only sighed and straightened his face from any expression. "...Really?"

"I said I was sorry!" Justine cried as she backed further in her father's chest, covering him in her cat hair, but he wouldn't mind the fur (as long as he cleaned his cloths before he'd get too close to Ciel).

"Sorry isn't good enough!" the dog barked. "Rip it to sheds! Burn it in hell! Never speak of it again!"

The demon held the cat in one arm as he straightened his posture. "Justine, Angel, May I ask what is going on?" When there was no reply, he looked at the kitten in his arm. "Justine, do I have to remind you that I'm your father, therefore you must do as I say?"

"...No daddy." she sighed as she averted her green eyes.

Sebastian then turned to the furious dog in front of him. "Angel, do I need to remind you that you are a guest, already on thin ice because of what happened from the beginning of this month to only the other day, only here to have a fun time with my daughter?"

"...No Mr. Michaelis." she sighed as she calmed a little, but didn't change her expression of anger toward the cat.

"Now, what is going on?" he asked again before both of them started shouting explanations simultaneously, to which he clutched his head. "I'm one hell of a butler, not one hell of a multi-listener. One at a time, please."

"Well, me and Angel were talking about our moms,"

"But then, I told her that I didn't grow up with a mom."

"So then, I told her that I knew who her mom is,"

"With her freaky all-knowing demon power,"

"And I told her that her mom was really an angel, literally."

"I asked her if she was still alive, what she was like, all of that,"

"And I told her that her mom was...you remember that cross-gender angel you beat up two years ago?"

Sebastian was only more confused by the question. "...Yes...Ash and Angela, I remember them."

"Well, then Justine told me that Angela was my mom!"

"I tried to explain to her that I don't control what I see, I just see it!"

"Then she tried to draw me a picture with me and my parents!"

"Then she turned, then I turned, then I came out here to you!"

"...ah." was Sebastian's only response. "What about that made you upset?" he asked Angel, truly curious.

"If that was true, then my dad lied to me!" she answered. "He told me that my mom died when I was only a toddler!"

"Like that's a big shocker!" Justine huffed.

"Shut up! Just because my dad's a spider does NOT mean that everything he tells me is a lie!"

"And I told her that Angela was turned into stone two years ago." the cat added, turning her attention from the canine to the butler. "I also tried to explain to her that you didn't really have a choice when you beat her and Ash."

"True." Sebastian stated. "I regret to tell you this, Angel, but if Justine is correct in her vision, which only a fool would doubt, your mother was the object of my master's revenge. Master Ciel commanded me to dispose of them both, so I had no choice. You, of all demons, should know that a master's order is absolute. Ciel orders me to jump, I must ask, 'How high?' It's just how it works. Again, I am truly sorry about your mother."

Hearing all of this, Angel returned to her human form, straightening her tail-coat as she looked down on the stone ground, unsure how to take this new information. She then reached over and scratched behind Justine's ear soothingly, causing Sebastian to smile at the compromise. "I'm sorry for getting mad at you. I should be mad at my dad, if I am at all."

Sebastian sighed a smile as he set down the cat and she returned to her human form as well, adjusting her purple glasses and red blouse before hugging her friend. "I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you about your mom." she apologized.

The dog demon sighed sadly. "...I guess I just thought...maybe there was a chance my dad was just mistaken and there was a possibility I could meet my mom. Just for one moment. But, hearing it now from you too, a demon that literally knows every little thing, past, present, and future, just sorta...killed that small hope." Both the girls were saddened by the turn of events as the friends shared a tight, much needed hug.

The next day, Justine wandered through the halls, getting distracted by the paintings she passed before she completely ran into another teenage girl. Oddly enough, she'd never met this girl as she muttered a "sorry" and straightened her light blue maid dress. Her dirty blond hair wrapped around her shoulders, slightly disheveled from the sudden impact, her blue-grey eyes stayed to the floor.

"...I've never seen you before." Justine admitted, trying to look at the strange teen's face that was pointed away from her. "What's your name?"

"R-Rachel." she stuttered as she fidgeted with her thumbs. "I'm shocked that you don't recognize me, well, not really. Since my brother came back from war, I was just a shadow of him. Always with him, but never noticed."

To this, the demon reaper furrowed her brows, poking through this girl's past. She and her older brother were orphaned at a young age. In order to survive at the time, they got themselves familiar with weaponry, which Rachel not only fell in love with, but grew obsessed with. After her brother left for the war, he returned home with a job offer in London England. They made the trip over seas and were accepted into the Phantomhive family. Though Rachel remained shy, accepting the job as an assistant maid (much like how Justine was an assistant butler), her brother bloomed happily and became the cook the whole manner knew and loved as Bardroy, the cook who can't cook.

The assistant butler tilted her head at what she saw in this teen's past before she smiled. "Well, Rachel, things are going to turn out for the better for you, you'll see." It was true; she glimpsed into the future and saw Rachel much happier in a crowd of friends that laughed with her in her ray of company. It was then when she had an idea. "Why not you come with me." she stated. "I want to show you something."

"O-okay." The maid stated as the female butler guided her out to the woods.

"Just follow me, and don't stray from the path." Rachel nodded as Justine led her in.

Just as instructed, Rachel stayed at Justine's side (maybe a little too close) throughout the whole hike. They soon made it to a small wooden cabin. They got inside and saw Angel sitting on the bench with a bored expression, just staring in the glowing ashes where once a fire that danced the chill away. "Hey Justine," she called thoughtfully. "why do we still even use this club house?" she asked curiously. "It's not like it's still a secret that we're friends."

"It's the only place my dad can get to that your dad can't." the reaper answered. "Just in case, you know? I, for one, do NOT want to relive last month!"

Angel looked back at her with a growing smile. "You were stuck in cat form for, like, three weeks. Plus being with Druitt!"

Justine cringed. "...Please...don't mention that perv again."

As the demon laughed at her friend's discomfort, she looked over at the human that came with her in interest and curiosity. "Who's this?"

"Oh!" The reaper almost forgot about Rachel, her being so quiet and timid and all. "Angel, this is Rachel. I just met her and thought you guys would like to meet."

After a while of Angel and Justine getting to know Rachel better, Justine jumped out of her skin when she looked at her watch and saw that they've been talking for hours. "I'm sorry, I have to go." she stated hastily as she rushed out the door. "My mom will be at the manner to get me literally any minute."

"It's okay, I understand." Angel stated as she stood. "I should get back to my dad too; make sure he's not planning something we're all going to pay for later."

As the two of them chuckled a little at the memories, Rachel looked at them in confusion. "What are you two laughing about?"

"It's a long story." Angel huffed.

"I'll tell you later." Justine promised as she left the cabin, Rachel following close behind.

When they returned to the manner, Grell waited by the gate, his chariot just behind him. As Justine approached him, she quickly hugged Sebastian goodbye. "Hey mom." she stated.

"Hey Tinie," he greeted with her old nickname. "You ready to go?"

"Just about." she answered in a chipper tone as she gave her father one last goodbye nod and strolled to the open arms of her mother.

The reaper smiled. "Great, there's actually someone I want you to meet." Justine looked confused as her mom guided her to the carriage and opened the door for her to get inside. Already sitting on the other side of the door was a young man with longish wavy brown hair, big, black, square glasses, and green eyes, wearing the reapers uniformed suit, only difference being the purple vest. It took her a few moments, but she soon realized that this was the same boy she saw in class half a year before. The double bladed ax leaning on the seat gave that away in flying colors. "Tinie, sweetie, meet your big brother, Jeremy." At the words 'big brother', both the teens snapped stiff and whipped their heads to Grell with wide eyes. All her power if foresight, and Justine never saw that coming. "Jeremy, this is your little sister, Justine."

"What?!" both teens shouted in exclamation as they both shouted things at random, overlapping each other. Grell simply sat her down inside and shut the door, taking the reins of the horse with a sigh.

Later that day, Angel decided she'd visit Undertaker. Ever since Justine introduced her to him, she'd always love to visit that cool and creepily awesome morgue. "Undertaker," she called as she looked around in the creepy room filled with coffins. Looking closer, she noticed that a few coffins stood up right. "I know you're in here." she called as she opened the coffin doors. "I'm not going to fall for this prank again!"

She soon reached one that had a teen boy with long, dark brown, nearly black hair. The boy had his long bangs cover his eyes, much like Undertaker's, but swept to the left side. His dark grey robe went down to his ankles and the long sleeves covered his hands. The robe was so dark, the only way Angel could tell that this boy had a body at all in the dim light was the white sash that stretched from his shoulder to his waist across his torso.

Cautiously, she reached in and poked the alleged corps; she thought she saw it breath. The moment the finger made contact with him, he shot his arms straight and made groaning sounds.

The demon screamed in fright and swooped to the wall with the strength in her newly discovered wings. The scream was interrupted by a hearty laugh from a cracked, dry voice. She looked over with dilated golden brown eyes to see Undertaker walking in as the source of the laughter. "Now Paul, is that any way to treat a lady?" he asked. "I thought I taught you better."

Paul laughed as he climbed out of the box, looking up at Undertaker. "Sorry dad." he chuckled.

Angel straightened and gazed at the teen. "...'dad'?" she repeated. "You're Undertaker's son?"

"That's right!" the teen boy answered with a grin, a dark brown eye glowing under his hair before he squeezed the demon close. "Now, we're going to be great friends!"

The dog demon bit her lip and cringed a little. "...meh..."


	17. Chapter 17

Justine scowled out the window as the lightning flashed and Jeremy glared at his new long lost sister. They've only known each other for a day, but they only gave each other glares when they weren't trying to add each other to their mother's list. "What are you doing?" the brother huffed rudely, breaking the silence.

"I hate rain." Justine growled quickly and simply in response. "With rain comes water. With water comes misery."

To this, the brother chuckled humorlessly before returning to glare at whatever was unfortunate enough to catch his attention. "If you were a cat, maybe." The demon girl whipped her head around and hissed at him, revealing the razor sharp fangs in her teeth as the black, pointed cat ears popped up and folded back threateningly. A long, thin tail snaked out from under her sweater. Her eyes glowed pink with her slit pupils seemingly cutting her eyes in half. Jeremy just looked at her blankly. "...My sister's a demon..." he concluded expressionlessly as he took in a deep breath and looked around the room with the same irritated boredom as before. "...Great."

Justine chuckled humorlessly. "The only reason I have to deal with you at all is because mom's a whore."

"She is not!" Jeremy shouted in full anger.

To this, the girl only laughed and glanced back at him with her demonic eyes. "You don't even understand that mom is a man!" she shot back. "**HE** is a gay, transvestite, man whore!"

"If mom is a man," Jeremy huffed in anger. "then how could we have been born?!"

"You ask me like I'm supposed to know!" Justine shouted. "I'm supposed to be younger! How should I know how we were born?"

"Well, mom told me that you know everything!"

"Reapers are exceptions!" she reasoned angrily as she redirected her attention back to the window. "I only know about humans, some demons, and some angels. Reapers are blanks in my book because reapers don't die; they technically are already dead. I only know about the _LIVING_!"

"That means _I'm_ more powerful than _you_, and you can't poke your nose in my business! Reapers really _are_ the master race."

The fight continued as a lightning bolt shot across town. The exact place of the electric current strike was on a specific statue on a bridge over the bay. It hit directly on the highest tip of the statue, causing it to start to crack. As more lightning flashed and thunder clapped, the crack grew larger until it started to chip off. Piece by piece, the stone crumbled, freeing the majestic, silvery white wings of the prisoner.

Angel looked up at the bright lightning and dark thunder clouds that served as its contrast. She backed away a little from the window as the thunder boomed and the lightning flashed until she bumped into someone she recognized instantly as her father; the white gloved hands that rested on her shoulders to steady her gave him away. Also, her father was the only one who understood her fears inside and out, from her fear of spiders, to her fear of thunder storms.

The dog demon had always feared thunder storms ever since her first thunder storm when she was just a baby, she was and left alone to see the shadows of the clawing branches through her window and the lightning flashes turning her happy dolls into possessed skeletons. To Claude, this was simply routine as he hugged her and shushed her. "It's alright." he soothed. "It's just a storm. It will pass, and you'll be fine when it does."

Despite the calming words, each clap made her shiver in her shoes and clutch him tighter as she cried in his chest. With every tense jump from the teen, the father would only tighten his hug. "I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you." he promised.

As the teen clutched her father, more lightning struck the silver winged statue, chipping off more to free his head of white wavy hair. His purple eyes looked down on London and turned his attention to his present state. When the prisoner tried to move his arms or legs, they wouldn't budge. "It's just fine." he sighed to someone unknown to anyone watching him from afar. "We'll be freed soon enough."

Rachel just stared out the window as she sat in the chair that was moved from the small, simple desk to the portal to the outside world, daydreaming as the rain dropped on the window and dribbled down the glass, making the lush, colorful garden look like a watercolor masterpiece painting. As her mind wondered, there was a knock on her door. "Yeah?" she sighed, not taking her eyes off the view of the storm as the door squeaked open.

"Rach?" a deep voice called. She turned, recognizing the voice as none other than her big brother, Bardroy. "Just thought you'd want some company."

The teen smiled as Bard plopped on her bed before she sat with him on the mattress. "I take it you're bored?"

"Out of my mind." the cook answered as he pulled out a match and lit it.

The moment the small flame was visible, Rachel blew it out. "I thought you were getting out of that habit! I'm shocked that you still need one in your mouth!"

"Oh, come on!" he complained. "If I can't smoke, what can I do?"

"Talk." she answered.

"I'm not playing Weapon Guess again!" he stated sternly. "Last time we played that, my hair didn't even start to grow back for at least another month!"

Rachel could only giggle at the memory as another lightning bolt hit the statue's back, allowing his torso to chip free, the grey stone breaking away to show the white tail coat and purple dress shirt. A white scarf was fluffed up at his neck, tucked in his black vest and white coat. The white haired man smiled as he stretched his black gloved hands, his knuckles popping after being unused and frozen as they were for two years. "Perfect." he smiled, looking himself over with his royal purple eyes. "Don't worry Angela. Almost complete."

Paul huffed in exhaustion as he moved corps after corps before a bell rang, signaling that someone was entering. "Hello?" the woman called.

The teen slumped when he saw the familiar long brown hair and brown eyes belonging to the human woman by the name of Paula. Over her shoulders was a light brown coat to protect her from the rain as she slipped off her black gloves and her brown and maroon hat from atop her head. The clicking of her heals echoed through the shop "Mom!" the teen complained. "Don't mess with me while I'm working! I could be working on a reap right now!"

Paula looked around in thought. "I don't see your father." she noted. "You don't work on reaps without him."

"That will change one of these days." he huffed at the woman. "I was never meant to be a human! I will be a reaper as soon as I graduate!" _Sure I'm an odd ball in the Reaper Facility,_ he thought with crossed arms. _but that doesn't stop dad! He doesn't need glasses either…I don't think…and who ever said that I had to have pure lime green eyes to be a reaper?_

The mother reached out and pulled the teen close to her big breasted chest, suffocating him in a tight hug. "Oh! My baby boy is growing up too fast!"

"Mom! What are you doing! Let me go!"

As Paula cried and Paul struggled to be free of her grip, a final flash of lightning landed on the statue's legs, freeing them both with a little chipping. "Wonderful." The now freed prisoner smiled devilishly as he spread his wings and took off in the stormy clouds. "Now to return to cleanliness." he stated. "To start, we must take revenge on those reapers for taking our souls that needed to be cleansed, as well as Sebastian for freezing us in time in a statue. Don't you agree Angela?"

"There is another we must have revenge on." the woman he referred to added as the angel flashed his face and figure between male and female depending on which one of his personalities spoke. At the moment, it was female. "As you are well aware, Ash, my daughter has been in the care of Claude Faustus for over 1,600 years. He is raising her to be unclean, unnecessary, and unwanted."

"Why not we stop her before she falls from cleanliness?" Ash asked, returning to his male form before the woman in his had more to say.

"Angel is still my daughter; therefore, she can still be cleansed." the woman reasoned. "Claude, on the other hand, must be punished for guiding her down that path. Once he's out of the way, I can be a true mother to her and guide her to the light, despite the growing darkness inside her. And just like how every child needs a mother, every girl needs a father."

"You would like me to replace Claude in her life?"

Angela nodded. "Angel needs to see a good role model, exactly what she must expect from a man." The female angel looked around before smiling. "I know exactly how we are to do this." She flew Ash's body down to a tower in the middle of the woods and started searching.

**. . .**

Jeremy and Justine's fight accelerated quickly when the maroon scissors and red ax were pulled out and swung around at each other.

Grell came in the room smiling with sweets in a tray. "I thought you two kids might want to bond over cookies~!" he stated with a smile before he ducked at the swinging ax that split the wall behind him, staying in the hole it made. "What is going on?!" he shouted angrily.

"(S)He started it!" The teens were quick to blame each other.

The reaper in red pinched the bridge of his nose, causing his red glasses to move up slightly to make room for the index finger and thumb. "...Jeremy, maybe it's best if you go spend the week with your dad." he stated. "I'm not good with this fighting kids thing."

Jeremy marched up to him and yanked his ax out of the wall. "Fine." he growled through gritted teeth as he jerked the door open and slammed it shut behind him.

Justine crossed her arms. "Good riddance." she hissed.

Grell just looked at her blankly. "...put those fangs away." he commanded.

She sucked in her fangs and her ears and tail shrank until they weren't visible anymore. She took a long blink as the pink glow in her eyes faded to her normal blue hued green eyes and the pupils grew wider and rounder. The demon huffed. "Happy?"

Meanwhile, in the woods, Ash and Angela smiled when they found the large puppet they were looking for. They finally separated their bodies to avoid confusing themselves and each other, and for more hands to help with the task they had. The female angel took the puppet in her arms and carried him over to a side table. "Let's get to work." she stated as they put the stuffing that fell out back through the hole and started stitching.

As the angels sewed their project together, the storm raged on mercilessly. Angel turned to her dog form and hid under a table as the thunder clapped and lightning flashed. Claude knelt beside the table, looking under the cloth that hid her from the hall. "Come on Angel, it's only a storm."

The dog only whined, finding nothing better to say, causing the spider demon to slump his shoulders and shut his eyes in irritation. "Honestly, what is it about storms that get dogs so frightened?" The Shepard cried and covered her eyes with her big paws when a loud, shocking clap of thunder rang through the manner and echoed through the walls.

Watching her in such distress, Claude physically crawled under the table and lifted the dog's head and front paws onto his lap. "If you won't go out there," he sighed, stroking her thick, soft fur comfortingly. "then I will come in here." The dog seemed to have calmed down at the feel of his touch as she lazily licked his hand and laid her head, now finding the sound of the distant rumble soothing on her nerves.

While Angel steadily fell asleep on the floor, little did anyone know that the angels finally finished stitching up the puppet and he was already starting to return to life. His colorful, lean body raised from the table, straight and stiff as a ruler. The short hair atop his head was a firey orange ginger, not touching the bright, deep blue jacket over his shoulders that covered his bright red shirt. His slanted, small purple eyes seemed unreal and emotionless, but still hypnotizing. "Ash. Angela." he greeted as he tipped his bright blue hat decorated in red cherries jerkily. "And then, I thought to myself, it's nice to see you again."

The angels both smiled at their handy work as they stood tall and regal. "Welcome back Drocell."

**. . .**

In an open field in the middle of the night, Grell, William, and Undertaker all three met, all with similar letters in hand. "Alright, Grell." Will sighed as he adjusted his glasses. "What is it you wanted?"

"Why do you assume it's me who wants something?" the red reaper asked, pulling out his own letter with crossed arms and leaning on one foot. "It says right here that Undertaker had something he didn't want to say in writing!"

"Something's not right." the silver haired reaper stated, tapping his chin with his long black finger nail. "I got a letter that said the same thing, but about you, William."

Gradually, they heard a song play and faint words to it. It started to get louder and louder until the words were crystal clear.

"Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
My fair lady."

The three turned in alarm, but it was too late. The voice repeated the line and their limbs got flimsy. Seconds later, they were nothing more than cotton stuffed in cloth.

At the break of dawn, Sebastian was simply trimming the gardens, the perfect time to trim plants was right after a rain storm after all. It wasn't long before a very faint tune played behind him. He passed it off as nothing and continued his work.

As he continued to go through his morning, the tune grew steadily louder until he was with Bard in the kitchen; "helping" cook breakfast ("helping" meaning "completely replacing the burned food for edible food"), when he heard the full tune.

"Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
My fair lady."

Bard, being human, started to feel the effects almost instantly, bringing Sebastian to alarm as he saw the cook plush doll beside him. He tried to escape the sounds of the tune, but with one more repeat, he was just a doll on the floor.

Bringing morning tea and breakfast to Alois, Claude first heard the tune, or at least noticed it. As he continued down the hall and up the stairs, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. Soon, he started to hear words form from the tune.

"Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
My fair lady."

In an attempt to escape, Claude quickly turned into a spider, dropping his tray of tea and breakfast foods, and ran as far and fast as he could as the music only grew louder and seemed to follow him in the walls.

The spider ran all the way down the hall, into a room, and quickly returned to his human form before slamming the door shut. He made a small sigh of relief until a woman in a white dress with a veil of purple over the white feathery design of the cloth caught his attention, her large, feathery, white wings slightly folded, framing her. "A-Angela?...I-is it really you?"

"...Unclean..."

Claude couldn't believe his eyes. He rubbed them again to be sure they weren't playing tricks on him. "You have no idea how much I've needed you!"

"...Unnecessary..."

The spider demon tilted his head in confusion. "What's going on? Are you feeling alright?"

"...Unwanted..."

Angela stood and approached the demon she once loved. "...Understand, Angel must be cleansed. It won't be pleasant for her, but it is very much necessary." The angel took in a deep breath. "...Which is why you must not be a part of her life anymore."

Claude's heart rate rose as the tune played outside the door and the song was sung once more.

"Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Cotton and cloth~  
Build it up in cotton and cloth~  
My fair lady."

This last time being what broke him; Claude fell to the ground, completely limp and boneless.


	18. Chapter 18

That morning, Paul yawned and stretched, poking his messy dark head of hair out of the covers as he sluggishly climbed out of the coffin (Undertaker's son sleeps in a coffin. I guess he was too cheap for beds) and stumbled around the shop. He got to the bucket of clean water and washed his face, essentially waking up fully.

When he passed by a large coffin, big enough for a couple, he knocked on the lid. "Okay dad!" he called. "It's morning!" As no response was made, the teen opened the coffin himself to find it completely empty. There wasn't any sign that Undertaker even touched the coffin.

Though Paul looked confused at first, after a second, he slumped his shoulders and straightened his face. "Sure." he mumbled, pretending that his father could hear him. "Go off with all of your full reaper friends, and leave me to do your job! Don't worry about me, I don't mind." he stated sarcastically as he started the normal routine on his own.

At the Phantomhive manner, Rachel groggily crawled out of her bed, popping and stretching whatever needed it before splashing her face with the ice water.

Once her face was dry, and she was dressed, she started down the hall alertly, going in the kitchen and instantly getting things from the cabinets by the door. "Hey, Bard, what's for breakfast?"

When she tripped on his flamethrower, she growled. "And what is this doing in here! How many times have I told you that a flame thrower is a weapon deserving of-" She was cut off when she looked around and saw that it was completely empty.

Normally right about now, Bard would be yelling at Sebastian about cooking being an art with a burned afro and the whole kitchen charred, and the butler would be coming in the kitchen simply for the master's cup of tea and breakfast. Rachel looked around. There was no sign of the cook or butler. "Hey, Rachel," she stated in her best Bardroy impression. "Do you mind filling in for me while Sebastian and I go somewhere?"

"Sure bro." she returned to her own voice. "I'd be happy to fill in for you." She then slumped as she started with cleaning the kitchen.

Back in the Reaper World of limbo, Justine stirred awake as the sun hit her eyes and the phone exploded. Instantly, she was worried as she jumped from the bed. She should've been at the Reaper Facility an hour ago. She hurriedly ran from her room and took the phone. "Mom! What is wrong with you?! Can't you hear the phone?!" she shouted quickly before putting the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Justine!" the panicked voice of Ronald shouted.

The demon reaper slumped. "Ronald, I don't have time to hear about yours and Angel's date last night."

"No!" he shouted. "That's not it. It's the new recruits! They're going wild! I gotta talk to your mom!"

"Why couldn't Uncle Will take care of it?"

"Will's not here!" he shouted in urgency. "I SO need a raise for this!"

Justine was shocked. Sure, every reaper wants to be off work, but it's not like Will, of all reapers, to just ditch all together. "Are you sure my mom's not there?" she asked.

"Even if he was here, I couldn't notice!" Ronald shouted over the commotion. "There's too much craziness going on to notice anyone!"

"Okay." The half breed thought for a second. "Look around again, try to get things back in order. When this is all over, I'll personally pay you the overtime."

"Alright. Thanks." And he hung up as Justine rubbed her left hand. As much as things were going wild in the reaper world, something wasn't right at the manner either.

She hurried to the Phantomhive Estate as quick as she could. When Meyrin answered the door, she knew something was wrong. "What's going on?" she asked urgently, pushing past the maid and rushing up the steps, the crimson haired woman following her.

"It's already super late in the morning, and Sebastian hasn't been seen at all!" she answered as Justine hurried down the up stairs hall and to the master's bedroom. Sure enough, Ciel was still sleeping soundly with the thick curtains keeping the room cool and dark.

Justine took in a deep breath as she turned to the maid. "Quickly, get me a cup of tea just like my father makes it." Meyrin nodded as the teen walked in and pulled the curtains open, allowing the sunlight to pour in. The cat demon gulped a little before sighing as pleasantly as possible, "Good morning, young master."

Ciel rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked over from the grand white and navy master bed in slight confusion. "...Justine?" he asked, sleep still in his groggy voice. "Where's Sebastian?"

"It seems my father is away at the moment." she answered swiftly. "Until he returns, I am to take his place. I apologize for the lack of breakfast at the moment. Because of the unexpectancy of my father's disappearance, I'm simply making this up as I go, to be honest. However, Meyrin is working on the tea as we speak, my Lord."

With a sigh, the young master nodded. "What time is it?" he asked calmly.

She quickly checked her pocket watch and answered, "15 past 10."

Instead of freaking out like any other human when he heard the time, the boy Earl only nodded. "If I'm still asleep when it's this late, then you are right. Something is unexpectedly wrong."

In the Spears home in the world of limbo, Jeremy stretched like a cat before he got ready for the day. He expected William to already be at the facility by now, so he didn't worry when he found he was home alone. When he got to the facility, however, it was utter chaos. He weaved through the crowd of wild recruits until he found a familiar face. "Ronald!" he shouted. "What's going on? Where are my parents?"

"I don't know, Jer!" he shouted in response. "I was just on the phone with Justine, and she told me to try and find them!"

The teen reaper furrowed his brows. "That's your problem!" he huffed. "You trusted a cat!" With that, he already started herding the recruits.

As the sun continued to climb in the blue sky over the Trancy manner, Angel stretched her back out when she was met with the sunlight pouring in her room through the opened window. What shocked her was that Claude was nowhere to be found. Normally, it's him waking her up. She brushed it off and got washed and dressed.

As she looked around, she started feeling more and more uneasy as she walked through the halls and never saw her father. She peeked in the master's bedroom and saw Alois still asleep, whereas Claude would've woke him up by now. She thought for a second before sliding out of the room. The dog demon decided to let the blonde master sleep just a little longer, maybe an hour or so.

**. . .**

Justine went on with her substitute butler duties, her mind wandering back to the facility. Ronald sounded so out of sorts and panicked on the phone. She only hoped he was handling things alright; he was always like a brother to her.

Ciel noticed her nervousness and uneasiness. "You are worried about your family." he read her mind. "Since you are here on a week when you are scheduled to be in reaper training, I'm guessing something horrid happened with the reapers as well instead of just Sebastian."

The demon reaper looked over at the young master, straightening her face. "It's alright, my Lord. I am your loyal servant, nothing more, nothing less. That is the first thing my father taught me." she stated with a slight bow of her head.

"You are a young woman, loyal to your father alone." he pointed out, taking his tea from her and sipping the cup.

"My father and I share a seal, his master is my master." she answered not rising from her bow.

"And you are just as loyal to your master; in this case me, as Sebastian?"

"If not as loyal, then more so, my Lord."

To this, the boy Earl grinned and flipped up his eye patch as his eye glowed lavender. "In that case, Justine, I order you to bring your father back here." he commanded. "Being my butler is his job, not yours. Your job is to simply _learn_ to be a servant."

Taking the left middle finger of her glove in her teeth, Justine's eyes glowed pink as she took her glove from her teeth and moved her left hand over her right eye. The pentagram on the back of her hand glowed the same purple as Ciel's eye. "Yes, my Lord." And with that, she was gone.

"Wait!" Rachel shouted, running after the teen. "I have a feeling my brother is with Sebastian. Take me with you!"

The teen demon thought for a moment before nodding. "Very well."

The two of them left the mansion and started to head to the Trancy manner. "If we're going to find my dad and your brother, we'll need help from Angel, she's a great tracker." Justine stated as she knocked on the door. "Just let me do the talking." she continued as the door opened.

Instead of Claude, who she thought would answer, it was Angel. "...Justine?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Angel?" the reaper asked, just as surprised. "What are you doing answering the door? Where's your dad?"

The dog demon shrugged. "He just up and left." she answered.

"And Alois still never ordered you to find him?" the cat demon asked.

The Trancy substitute butler shrugged. "Alois still doesn't know." she stated. "In fact, he's still asleep! I get a day off from that little brat!"

The Michaelis teen sighed. "Angel, can you please just help us find my dad and her brother? You're the best tracker I know."

"I'm the ONLY tracker you know." she snorted, crossing her arms before shrugging again. "But, for old times' sake, I'll help you out." The three started down the road before Angel stated, "I just need to grab something from Undertaker's, I left my gloves there, and my dad's gloves are slipping off."

The trio walked off to Undertaker's, where it was dark and ominous, filled with coffins and corpses, like a morgue would look like. "...Uncle..." Justine called. "...It's just me, your favorite niece, and my friends."

"He's not here." A bored voice stated from behind the counter. Paul stood there, bouncing a ball on the counter top while resting his head in the palm of his hand. "My dad just left."

Justine looked at the boy oddly. "...Your dad?" she asked.

To this, Paul just looked up at her. "Hey cuz." he sighed with a mocking smile. "What brings you and your friends here?"

"My dad's missing, and so is Rachel's brother."

"My dad too." Angel added. "But, that doesn't matter, because we only came here for the gloves I left."

Hearing this, Paul looked up and smiled much like his father. "You know, my dad told me a story that started a lot like this." he stated. "A couple of seemingly random kids, who had no ties to each other, their entire families just, poof! Gone." he stated in a low, mysterious tone, creeping around from girl to girl, as he ran his long, rough finger nails on their tense shoulders. "The kids searched for years. Though they all became good friends, their families were never found. Then, right when they came close to finding them, POOF! They disappeared into thin air." The three girls felt uneasy, to say the least, about the story the boy told them. "Scotland Yard searched for the kids, but when they found them one by one, they were already in the clutches of my dad, so to speak."

Rachel took in a deep breath. "Y-you mean-"

"Yes." Paul answered before the question was asked. "They weren't found until they were nothing but rotting meat, stale blood, and some bone. Somehow, my dad made them pretty again in time for the most important day in their whole existence, their funerals."

Angel gulped down the lump that settled in her throat. "Where were their families?"

"To this day," the teen stated, returning to his place behind the counter. "Not a single soul knows. They never came here, but their faces were never seen again, except for the toys that were made in their likeness."

Justine took in a deep breath before she looked at her friends with determination. "Then, I guess we should get started." she sighed as she started to leave. "The sooner we find our parents, the sooner we can move on." Quickly, she remembered Ronald and the situation at the facility. "But, we need to stop by the Reaper Training Facility. Ronald is in huge trouble with the new recruits."

Angel perked up at the sound of her boyfriend's name and rushed out the door. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's MOVE!"

The four rushed to the facility and saw exactly what Justine imagined from the phone call. All the new recruits seemed to be revolting against the whole reaper system. Ronald, Jeremy, and a few others were trying to keep them in order, but between Ronald's lawnmower running, Jeremy's ax swinging, and several other scythes going, it was hard.

The dog demon looked around and simply shouted in a scary booming voice, "STOP!" and all the reapers froze in the exact position they were in with the exception of Justine and Paul. All the reapers in the room strained to attempt to look over to Angel and had questioning looks in their green eyes.

Jeremy glimpsed over and saw Justine before he scowled. "I had a feeling you did this." he stated sourly. "Unfreeze me, Scaredy Cat!"

"It's not me, genius, it's Angel!" the demon reaper shouted at her brother.

"Who?" he asked.

Justine groaned. "Angel, this is my long lost half-brother, Jeremy, Ax Brain, Angel." she introduced hurriedly.

"Great, you two know each other." Ronald called from across the room. "Angel, pup, I think these recruits are calm now. Can you please unfreeze everything?"

Angel looked around, tapping her chin as she studied the reaper's faces. "...I don't know...are you sure these new recruits aren't going to continue their riot?"

"Oh, no!"

"We'll be good!"

"Promise!"

The recruits shouted encouraging things to convince her to revive their free will. She hummed a little more in mocking thought, taunting them with the time ticking by before she waved her hand and everyone was free from the illusion's grasp.

They smiled and calmly went on with their business as Justine approached Ronald. "Did you ever find my mom or Uncle Will?"

"Sorry, Justine." he apologized tiredly. "I couldn't find them anywhere."

The teen crossed her arms and bit her lip in thought. "Alright...you keep an eye on these new recruits, I'll go out and search for them while I'm looking for my dad, Angel's dad, Uncle Undertaker, and Rachel's brother."

"Uh, hello!" Jeremy called. "Remember me? Yeah, this is MY parents you're talking about! MY dad in this mix, MY problem, I'm coming with you guys!"

Justine smacked her head and pushed him out of the way, following her friends out the door and dragging Angel from her make-out session with Ronald. "Thanks, but no thanks Ax Brain; you'll just get in the way."

The reaper threw his ax so it blocked her path to the door. "Rule number one in the Spears family," he stated as he grabbed his scythe and continued outside with everyone else. "...never trust a demon to do a reaper's job. I'm going, and you can't stop me!"

The half-sister sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as they walked past the courtyard and to the woods. "Fine, but no one else is coming! Our group is already too big as is!"

"Arf! Arf!"

"WREAW!" The sound of barking caused Justine to leap up and hang on a tree branch for dear life as her cat ears, tail, and claws popped out. She looked down the tree trunk as she hung upside down on the long, thick, high branch and her green eyes widened in surprise and slight fear at the barker. "PLUTO?!"


	19. Chapter 19

Justine hung on the branch and refused to let go. "Come on Justine!" Angel called up the tree. "Will you just come down already?"

"NO!" the demon reaper whined like a toddler, snaking her arms and legs tighter on the branch. "I'M NOT COMING DOWN TO THAT DOG!"

"HEY!" The dog demon shouted in offense.

"Angel, you're a demon that can turn into a dog, and have some traits of a dog, but him!" She temporarily let go of the branch with one arm to point at the white haired, red eyed man in nothing but a black collar, scratching his ear with his foot and later sniffing it. "He is a full out DOG!"

"He's not all that bad." Rachel stated, scratching Pluto's head as he hung his tongue out and huffed happily. "He's actually kinda cute."

Justine laughed a little humorlessly. "Try living with him every other week when he thinks of you as a CHEW TOY!"

"It was only one time!" she called up.

"One time is enough to mentally and physically scar someone!" was the answer.

"Come on!" Paul called up, throwing his arms. "It couldn't have been that bad!" Justine then raised the bottom hymn of her pants a little to show the long scar that hid on her ankles and up her legs. "That's nothing!" he called again. "You should see my dad's customers!" She then swung up to sit on the branch and lifted her shirt just enough to show the many tooth marks and scars on her stomach, sides and back.

Jeremy sighed exaggeratedly. "Did I mention that you're a scaredy cat?!" he called up the tree as the sister clutched the branch.

"Yes!" she called back. "Several times! Just so you know, I'm down to my last three lives thanks to that mutt!"

After another hour of the friends trying to reason with her, Jeremy growled. "That's it!" he shouted, swinging out his ax and tossing it at the branch, slicing straight through.

Justine fell all the way down the tall tree, screaming the whole way. Pluto perked up at the sound of screams and stood on his two legs, holding his arms out and looking up. Surprisingly, Justine landed square in his arms. She kicked and squirmed until he let her down.

The cat demon roughly brushed the twigs and leaves in her hair before she huffed. "Mutt." As a response, Pluto licked her cheek happily, causing her to cringe and push him away. "EWW! GROSS! DOG SLOBER!" The friends (and brother) simply laughed at the sight.

"Let's get back on track." Paul stated. "When's the last time any of you guys saw your missing parents?"

Rachel was the first to speak. "Well, I last saw Bard during the last stormy day. He was bored and wanted to hang out in my room while dinner was cooking."

"Last time I saw mom was the last time I saw you." Jeremy snarled at Justine. "After that, mom sent me to dad's, and then I last saw him leave home with a letter from mom."

Justine furrowed her brows. "Mom never sent a letter to Uncle Will, but he did say that he got a letter from Uncle Undertaker, that's the last time I saw him."

Paul was confused at both their stories. "Hold up. My dad didn't send any letters; he got a letter from Mr. Spears, saying it was a reaper emergency." After a second, he crossed his arms and pouted. "He said it was for full reapers only, so he left me in the morgue to deal with my mom when she came to 'visit'."

After some thought, Justine continued her statement. "Also, I hadn't seen my dad since I left for mom's week."

Angel scratched her chin, trying to remember. "Well...last time I could remember seeing my dad was in the middle of that storm we had last night. He must've taken me to my bed, because the last thing I remember of him was hiding under the table in my dog form and him trying to talk me out and the next thing I knew, I was in my bed and it was morning."

"What about this little angel?" Rachel asked, scratching Pluto's head and baby talking to him. "How does he fit in all of this?"

Justine took a closer look at the demon hound and noticed the back collar. "...Angel..." she stated. "you're going to hate me for saying this, but...I think your mom is behind this."

To this, the dog demon was confused. "...My mom?" The reaper nodded, causing the Shepard to laugh. "You still think that my mom's an angel?" she asked. "I admit, it's kinda weird and random that I have big, white, feathery wings, but that doesn't prove anything!"

"It proves that your mom has big, white, feathery wings, which Angela does." Justine stated. When Angel stubbornly crossed her arms, the demon reaper shrugged. "The fact that it's you mother-"

"NOT A FACT!"

The cat demon just looked at her before she continued. "...is not important. What is important is that angels are behind this."

"How can you tell?" Jeremy asked, an edge of attitude in his voice, but still curious.

Justine mumbled a little "Ax Brain" before she sighed and pointed out the collar to him. "Well, first off, back when Pluto was just a part of my dad's orders to train a dog and he lived with us in the manner, he always had that exact collar on." She stood straight and looked around the group. "He got that collar from Angela, a fallen angel, who later used the collar to control him to burn London to the ground. The collar also glowed when he was near that freaky puppet guy, who I think was working with Angela, but we were never sure."

"Burn London to the ground?" Angel asked, baffled. "How'd he do that?"

Justine looked over at her and answered simply, "Pluto is a demon hound." Her friend was still confused, causing the half-breed to face palm. "Didn't Claude teach you anything?" she asked with a sigh before she started to unleash her surface knowledge on demon dogs. "Demon hounds have two forms, their human form, and hound form, obviously. Their hound forms are normally the size of a second or third class house. They also breathe fire, which is how they got their nicknames, 'hell hounds'. They actually come from Greeks, standing guard alongside Cerberus, the three headed dog of the Greek Underworld. My dad took me on a vacation there a few times when I was little. I always loved Persephone's garden."

"Getting off track!" Paul shouted sternly.

Justine nodded. "Right." she stated before Rachel caught her attention.

"Also, I remember Bard telling me that Pluto was dead...but, it's starting to get a little fuzzy..." the human stated.

The demon reaper only shrugged. "More of a reason to point fingers at the angels." she answered. "If I remember correctly, Angela, like the reapers, can rewrite the past to bring specific people or beings back to life, and therefore, alter present reality as we all know it."

Jeremy snatched the spotlight from his sister. "There's a fault in your reasoning." he stated. "None of my memories are being rewritten, how can it alter present reality?"

Justine groaned and face palmed. "Because, Ax Brain, you have no past relationship with Pluto! It only alters the memory of his death! Duh!"

"Will you quit calling me Ax Brain?! I have a name, you know!"

"I'll stop calling you Ax Brain when you get an actual brain!"

"I do have an actual brain!"

"Then use it!"

"To sum it all up," Paul shouted as he clutched his head, interrupting the fight. "Our parents were taken by angels."

Angel was still confused. "But why my dad?" she asked, gazing at nothing and not really asking anyone, but at the same time gazing at her friends and asking them this critical question that still didn't make sense in her reasoning. "He doesn't know any angels. Why target him?" When Justine started to say something, the dog demon pointed a stiff finger to her. "Don't say it!"

Justine looked around the group of six (Pluto joined the group, much to her dismay). "Alright," she stated. "we need some scent of one of our parents. If Pluto is good for anything, he can track them, and roast those angels."

"I can track them too!" Angel shouted.

"Yeah," the reaper stated with a shrug. "But...you need to be in dog form to track. Pluto can track in either form (and it's less sharp teeth to worry about)."

Rachel pulled out Bard's flamethrower and presented the weapon to the demon hound. Pluto sniffed it and looked around confused. "Come on boy," the human encouraged. "you can find him, I know you can." The hound barked happily before taking another sniff at the flamethrower and started searching for a match.

Not long at all, Pluto howled and grew. Justine's eyes went wide at the sight of his long white tail, large sharp teeth, and huge paws that could easily crush her. As everyone else climbed on his back, she backed away in fear. "...I think I'm just gonna-" She was interrupted when Jeremy took out William's scythe and took the back of her blouse in its grasp, pulling her on the dog's back before lightly kicking his thigh like one would a horse.

Pluto ran in the direction of the scent, Paul gripping the collar like the reigns of a wild horse at a rodeo, Angel hanging onto him for dear life, Rachel simply leaning back a little while rooting her hands in his white fur, Jeremy completely leaned forward in determination, and Justine hanging off the hound's tail, screaming the whole run.

**. . .**

It felt like hours, but they finally made it to the shop in the middle of London town that night. The friends looked around as they dismounted Pluto...except for one. Angel looked over at the tail as the hound lifted the extension in his own view. "Justine! You can open your eyes now!"

"...Is it over?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, scaredy cat!" Jeremy shouted. "The run is over!" Justine sighed in relief as she started to make her way off the white fur. What she didn't see was her half-brother's evil smirk. "...Just not for you." he stated, which caused the sister to stop and look at him with wide, worried blue-green eyes before she had the chance to touch the cobblestone street.

"Wha-"

"Look Pluto! A squirrel!" The hound perked up in the direction the reaper pointed in before he bolted. Justine again squeezed tightly on the dog's tail and screamed as Pluto ran in the direction he believed there to be the promised rodent.

Angel, Paul, and Rachel slumped and just looked at him as he clutched his hurting stomach. "...Was that really necessary?" the demon asked.

"No." he huffed out between laughs before roaring. "But it was hilarious!"

The dog demon groaned as she lept in the air, shifting to her dog form in midair, and chased after Pluto. After a while of tracking him, she picked up her pace to out run him and slid in his path, shifting back to her human form as she did so. "Whoa!" she called, holding her hands up, essentially causing the hound to slide to a stop. "Pluto! Down!" He started to lower his stance before Angel re-encouraged sternly, "...Down..." and he dropped to the dirt.

With a smile, she grew out her wings and flew up to his head, scratching him behind the ears. "Good boy~!" she praised before flying back to his tail, where Justine still hung on tightly and fearfully. "Come on." she stated. "I got you."

Shakily, the cat demon got up and just hugged her friend close. "...That was really scary..." she whispered in her ear.

"It's okay." Angel soothed before grabbing her arms. "Let's get back to the others; we still need to save our parents, right?"

"Aren't you still kinda new at flying?" the demon reaper asked as they both took off in the sky.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it." Angel stated before Justine was knocked in a tree branch right in her stomach. The dog demon cringed before rising higher. "...well, almost..." Justine glared up at her. "It's not like there's someone at the Trancy manner who can teach me how to fly! My dad's a spider, not a bird!"

Hearing that, the demon reaper avoided the golden brown gaze. "..._My _dad's a bi-"

"Shut up!"

When they returned to the shop, Justine practically kissed the street. "Land sweet land!" she praised.

"My flying isn't that bad!" Angel shouted, tucking her wings back under her coat.

The five teens entered the dark, dull, dusty shop, the only sound being the bell at the door. It might've looked like a normal, old toy store during the day, but when the only light in the whole shop was the dim silver moonlight, everything just looked creepy. Dust collected all over the toys, clocks, and games to the point that made it impossible to decipher what they were originally built to be with the exception of six cloth dolls that looked vaguely familiar to them.

Rachel brushed the stiff cloth that served as one of the dolls' hair. This doll specifically had solid, round blue eyes, dark yellow hair, and long white cloths. The goggles that hung around its neck would've never fit on the doll's oversized head, which was half the doll itself.

Paul tilted his head at the doll in black in front of him. This doll had long, solid, grey hair that looked short compared to the head, but still reached the doll's legs. The hair also covered the eyes and seemed to be stitched over them.

Angel picked up the small doll that caught her eye. This doll had half open golden yellow eyes with sewed on silver glasses and jet black hair framing its face. Its white right hand seemed to also be sewed over where its heart would be with the other hand sewed behind its back.

Justine held a doll that looked similar to the one in Angel's hand, only this one's eyes were bold blood red, and it had no glasses. Also, its raven black hair was swept to either side with a cut of it across its face. Its white hands were in the exact same position as the one in the dog's hands.

Both siblings looked over at the doll that looked like the odd ball in the bunch with its yellow-green eyes and long fiery blood red hair. The grin of the doll had triangles painted in the mouth as the points of the grin were near the bright red pentagonal shaped frame of the glasses that were sewed on its face.

Jeremy looked curiously at the doll on the shelf in front of him, seeing the doll's yellow-green eyes and bold black glasses sewed on its face. Its own coal black hair appeared to be too short to do anything with, so it just sat there with an uneven split at its right side and swept back. Its own hands were simply free at its sides.

The five teens looked at each other wide eyed before placing the dolls back where they were. "These dolls look familiar to you guys too?" Paul asked as they all nodded.

"Our parents are here." Jeremy stated with a growing smile. "I can feel it."

"Let's split up, they have to be around here somewhere." Justine suggested. "Rachel, you and Paul go and check the back rooms, Angel, you and Ax Brain go and look around in the basement, and I'll look around the back ally way."

"Oh no you don't!" Angel shouted. "Jeremy's YOUR brother! Not mine! I'LL look in the ally way, YOU and Jeremy look in the basement!" With many complaints, they agreed and split up in their assigned groups.


	20. Chapter 20

Angel peeked her head out the ally, looking around before stepping on the cobblestone. "...H-hello?" she called. "...Dad? You out here?"

"...Angel?" came a female voice that was unfamiliar to her. She turned around to see a woman with short, wavy white hair and a long white dress with large white feathery wings. Thin purple lace rested over the white dress as a veil.

The woman smiled down at the teen with loving, deep purple eyes. She approached her slowly, stretching out her arms, reaching out to her face. When the hands made contact with the dog demon, her thumbs stroked her cheeks in a continuous circle. Angel didn't know if she should have ran away from her or stayed to hear her out as she stood there with calculating eyes and furrowed brows. "I can't believe you've grown so much."

Angel backed away from the stranger, leaving the woman's reach. "...Sorry...do I know you?" What she really wanted to say was, "Who the heck are you lady?!"...but she thought that seemed rude.

The woman only smiled wider. "Angel, I'm your mother, Angela Blanc, remember?" she answered before her eyes filled with sorrow. "...Giving you up was the hardest decision I've ever made, but now I can make it right." She then approached the demon again. "I'll undo the damage Claude has done on you, cleanse you; give you a proper family."

Angel tilted her head in confusion. "...What-?" she asked before Angela grabbed her and took off in the sky with a majestic whoosh of her large wings.

As Angela flew away, Ash made his way to the front of the dust covered shop with Drocell. "But, I wonder to myself, are you sure about this?" the puppet asked, tilting his head jerkily as he hurriedly followed the angel.

"I'm sure." Ash nodded. "Angela got what she wanted; he's of no more use to me."

With a nod, Drocell took the yellow eyed doll in his hand and walked to the other room. Ash followed him and closed the door as the record started. Once they were isolated from the other dolls, Drocell sang:

"Build it up with flesh and blood~

Flesh and blood~

Flesh and blood~

Build it up with flesh and blood~

My fair lady~"

Gradually, the small 8'' plushy doll started to grow before it started to move.

Claude stretched out his arms and shoulders. "Whatever are you two going on about?" he asked casually while he popped his knuckles and shook the feeling back in his hands. "If you don't need me now, then why did you need me before?"

"I didn't need you." Ash answered.

After a second, it started to click in the demon's head as he smiled. "...Angela...you only took me because Angela wants Angel, is that correct?" he asked, only being greeted with silence. "Well, she had her chance to raise our daughter with me; she lost that chance long ago."

"1,648 years to be exact."

The spider shook his head. "1,64_9_ as of 10:23 this morning." he stated.

The angel sneered, pushing his face threateningly towards him. "Okay, _Claude_, Angel is now mine and Angela's daughter. I'll be a better father than you ever were. How, you might ask, can I be any better than her birth father? I won't corrupt her mind with filth! If you try to follow us with the illusion that you'll get her back, we'll wipe away any good memory she's ever had of you and replace it with the mistrusted spider that you are." He let that sink in, causing Claude's smirk to be whipped clean and replaced with a look of petrified worry, before he stood straight.

"One more thing," he stated, regaining the worrying father's attention. "If you attempt to assist Angel's friends in discovering Sebastian and the reapers, I will personally crush you while you wait for your prey to wander on your sticky web of lies." With that fresh in the spider's mind, he marched out the shop door and flew away.

**. . .**

The groups of friends gathered in the front of the shop with no success...so they thought. When they looked around, they tried to find Angel, but instead found a tall man in a long black tail coat and jet black wavy hair as he gazed out the front window deep in thought with his arms crossed. "...Claude?" Justine recognized him. "Where'd you come from? Where's Angel?"

The spider demon turned to see the four teens before he pulled a small grin. "Ah, Justine Sutcliff Michaelis, it's nice to see you again."

"Cut the crap Feastus? Where's Angel?" she repeated.

Claude sighed. "Look, I don't know where Angel is." he answered honestly. "I thought, since she came here with you, then she'd be back here to meet you."

"How would you know that she came here with us?" Rachel asked.

The man was about to answer, then hesitated. "...I can't say..." he stated. Of course, the teens didn't believe him (seriously, would you?) as they crossed their arms and shot him glares of blue-grey, dark brown, lime green, and blue-green.

When he looked around at the disapproving looks, he raised his hands in defense with raised, innocent eye brows and widened, worried eyes. "Look, I was simply bringing Master Alois his tea and breakfast, then I heard...a song...next thing I knew, I was on the ground!" he shouted. "I had no control of myself; I couldn't even move my mouth to speak. After a while, I was brought here, in this very room, just this morning. I thought I'd never be able to leave, until you kids came in an hour ago. I saw you come in, you even walked right up to me, but then you left to find your missing family members. You have no idea how much I wanted to scream and cry at Angel, tell her she was going the complete wrong way, that it was a trap, but I couldn't. It wasn't until just a few moments ago when I returned to my normal size with full control of myself."

Justine looked at him disapprovingly, crossing her arms as she approached him. "...So, you magically shrank, losing your ability to change back, and unable to communicate with us?"

He nodded excitedly at her understanding. "Yes! Exactly!"

The teen rolled her eyes before returning to her glare. "How's it feel, hu?"

The other teens only exchanged questioning looks and murmurs of, "Don't look at me! I have no idea what's happening." "How am I supposed to know?" and "I only just met her, and I don't even know this dude!" before Jeremy finally had enough guessing. "Yo! Scaredy Cat! Mind telling us what's going on? Who is this guy?"

"This," she growled. "Is Claude Feastus, butler of the Trancy manner, spider demon, and Angel's father." she explained. "Only last month, he forced my form into a cat, which made it impossible for me to talk to anyone or change back, and locked me in so many places I lost track!" She then rejoined the group, keeping her glare on him. "Now, Angel is missing, and he claims to have gone through basically the same thing as I did. He doesn't deserve our trust. For all we know, _he_ kidnapped her so we wouldn't find our own parents. He might even be working with the angels!"

"Now hold it right there!" Claude shouted in offense as he took his turn to glare at her. "I know after what happened last month, you have every right in the world to not trust me, but _**NEVER**_ accuse me of working with angels! That is FAR from the truth!"

"Well, it's far more believable than the lies you fed us!" the cat demon shouted back before marching out the door and whistling in the street. As the large white dog bounded up the street and the three teens climbed on his back, Justine turned back to Claude. "Whatever you're planning, we are going to get Angel back, find our parents, and crush those angels. After that," She paused so she can climb on Pluto's back and grab a firm hold on the black collar. "I am going to come back here and crush you like the little spider you are sitting on your web of lies."

**. . .**

Angel backed in the corner in fear, even turned into her dog form to squeeze behind the furniture, to get as far away from these psychos as possible. "Come on out Angel." Ash requested in a soothing voice just like he had for the past hour.

"I said it once, I'll say it again!" she barked. "I. Want. My. Dad!"

Angela knelt beside Ash, looking at her with those purple eyes holding only false kindness. "Angel, sweetie, Ash is your dad now."

"NO!" the teen screamed, bolting out the other way and under a large bed with a huge, white and purple, feathery quilt. "You're NOT my parents! I don't even know you psychos!"

The angels followed her and surrounded either side of the bed, leaving only the foot of the bed open, which was blocked by a long, heavy box. "Honey, we don't want to hurt you." Angela promised in a comforting tone. "Just come out, and-" When she tried to climb under the bed with her, the dog swooped out the other side and spread her wings. The canine started to fly, but was wrestled to the ground by Ash.

"Don't hurt her!" Angela cried as she scrambled out from under the bed and to his side as Angel squirmed out of his grip with no success.

"Angela, we must cleanse her!" Ash reasoned. "You know this!"

The woman's purple eyes went wide as the man pulled out a large needle about as thick as a telephone cord, as long as a kitchen knife, and just as sharp, only making the canine squirm, push, kick, and flap even harder. "NO! NO! GET THAT AWAY FROM ME! DAD! DAD! WHERE ARE YOU?! HELP ME!"

"I'm sorry, Angel." Ash apologized emotionlessly. "This is for your own...GOOD!" Right at the word 'good', he plunged the needle in the back of her neck, causing her to let out a whine as she froze in shock, fear, and pain.

Angel felt the tube of the 'medicine' right against her skin, bypassing her thick fur. The sounds of the liquid bubbling down the tube and through the needle were torturing until the last drop sunk in her skin. As Ash pulled out the needle, he let her go, causing her to drop to the floor.

Everything felt heavy as she tried to lift my hundred pound paws, or her two ton wings, ending in no success. The teen's eyelids grew harder and harder to keep up as the weight piled on and her vision blurred. She let out a weak whimper as her hearing started to ring and buzz. The last thing the dog saw and heard was Angela's form rushing up to her and holding her tightly as she screamed and cried at him. After a second of seeing that picture, all the white in the room started to turn grey. It wasn't long at all before she was swallowed by the growing darkness.

**. . .**

Angel woke up hazily, groaning as she steadily stood on her four paws before a white light flashed over her eyes as a thump was heard and the teen had a sharp pain on the top of her head. Shaking her vision clear, she saw that she was in a kennel. The bars on the door left small holes and the lock was thick, square, and black, so she couldn't even see what kind of lock it was.

The dog tried to change to her human form, but for some reason she couldn't; some unseen force kept her as the dog she was. When she tried spreading her wings, they pulled on each other. Looking back, the canine saw that they were clipped. Then, Angel noticed a new weight on her neck. She straightened her neck to look and saw that it was a black collar just like Pluto's weighing her down.

As the teen looked past the bars of the cage, she saw Angela sitting in front of her, gazing at her with tear filled, thoughtful purple eyes. "...Angel..." she cried. "...My sweet baby Angel..."

"How many times do I have to tell you lady?!" the dog growled. "I'm NOT your pup! You're not my mom! I don't have a mom!"

"I am." she nodded. "I've been watching over you your whole life."

"Then prove it!" she barked. "Tell me something only I would know!"

Angela thought for a moment before she smiled and connected her thumbs to her index fingers.

"The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout~"

She then wiggled her fingers as her hands dropped and the teen in the cage tilted her head in disbelief.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out~"

As the angel lifted her hands again, now formed in a circle, she continued her little rhyme.

"Up came the sun and dried up all the rain~  
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again~"

Angel couldn't believe what just happened. Only Claude knew that the Itsy Bitsy Spider was her favorite nursery rhyme when she was a little pup. The two of them kept that their little secret; never told another soul. "...I-I still don't believe you..." the girl stuttered.

Angela nodded as she reached in her pocket and pulled out a large pair of round glasses. She didn't put them on all the way; but instead, she kept her fingers on the thin frames as she zoomed the glasses in and out between the two of them. "...What's with the glasses?" Angel asked, though she had a feeling she knew what the angel would say.

"The better to see you with," she stated.

_What does that prove?_ The demon asked herself. _All it shows is that she's a Little Red Riding Hood fan._

What the woman said next caught the dog off guard. "...my Angel."

Angel hung her mouth open before shaking out of it. "...Okay, you got me...you might be my mom, but even my dad is untrustworthy. What makes you different?"

As if to answer, Angela reached over and started working the lock. "Ash doesn't trust that you'd stay even if you knew the truth." she stated. "But I do. I never wanted you to get hurt in this, I only wanted a second chance to be a mother, _**the**_ mother, you deserve."

When the lock clicked and the door squeaked open, the demon just stared at her with flattened ears and lowered head. "...Mom...?" She nodded as the teen cautiously left the kennel.

As soon as she left the threshold of the cage, she grew into her human form and stood before her. The newly found mother then made a spinning gesture with her finger. "Turn around." she instructed. Angel did so trustfully, still in a daze as she messed with the clipped wings. When she was done, the daughter fully spread them, happy that there was no clip to prevent them from separating.

When the dog demon started to mess with the buckle on the collar, Angela shook her head. "You won't be able to get it off that way." she stated. "Only Ash and I can take it off." Angel looked at her expectantly before she laughed a little. "If I take it off, Ash will know I did, then he'll punish me."

"Then why stay here?" the teen asked in confusion. "Why not come back and stay with me and dad?"

"I wish I could," the mother sighed as she stroked the long brown hair. "But I'm an angel, and your dad is a demon. Just as I was told long ago, I am forever chained to the heavens, just as he is forever chained to the earth." Angel was discouraged at her answer before she smiled again. "I noticed your flying was choppy and uncontrolled for your age when I saw you fly to the toy shop with that cat in your arms."

"Sure." the teen scoffed, crossing her arms. "Rub it in that I can't fly right. It's not like anyone ever taught me!"

Angela smiled. "Well, I'm right here...if you want to learn, that is."

The hybrid looked up and smiled brightly. "You would do that?" she asked.

"What else is a mother for if not to teach her daughter?" she giggled, spreading her wings and taking off. Angel's smile widened as the teen joined the woman out the window.

This was already more than the demon hoped for. Before, she wanted nothing more than to learn her mother's name, now she's not only spending time with the woman she wondered so much about, but she was also learning something new from her. Angel couldn't wait to tell her father all about it.

Claude sighed as he gazed out the front window of the toy store he stayed at the whole next morning, unsure if he should leave the rest of the 'missing' family members to rot, or just sing the song to restore them. If he left them, then he'd have plenty guilt trips from his developing conscience, but if he restored them, Angel might be lost to him forever. For all he knew, Ash could've had some bug on him or was supernaturally spying on him to be sure he wasn't foiling the angel's plan. "So now, I think to myself, what is a spider willing to do for his lost puppy?"

"You grow less and less amusing by the minute." the demon informed the puppet. "If you want to help so bad, then why didn't you turn everyone back? Why just me?"

"A puppet can only do as he is told from the one pulling the strings." Drocell stated emotionlessly. "The angels hold my strings and sticks; I cannot do as you say."

The spider looked over at the purple eyed ginger. "That still begs the question, why me? Why target me to begin with? And why give me up so easily?"

The sack of straw pulled a smile. "Angels are odd in their ways, especially those fallen from grace in search of redemption." he stated flatly. "Ash and Angela might be two halves of one whole, but their goals are complete and separate. If Ash would have had complete control, I guess to myself, you and your daughter would have been untouched. But had it been the other way around, you and your daughter would have been the only targets, possibly with a different outcome."

The golden eyes of the demon looked at him in question. "What do you mean?"

"The one whom tugged my strings at the Trancy's was Angela with Ash over her shoulder, like a child learning to use a weapon for the first time under a parent's super vision." he answered. "Had Ash not been present, I believe to myself, she would have found no use of me." Claude averted his eyes in thought, trying to process what was told to him. "And so, I ask again." Drocell stated, tipping his hat jerkily. "...What is a spider willing to do for his lost puppy?"


	21. Chapter 21

Pluto bounded down the street, his tongue flopping in the passing wind as he ran. "Hey! There's someone on our tail!" Jeremy called from the back. When the three teens looked back, they saw the figure of a man galloping up beside them on a horse black as ebony. On the horse's back was none other than...

"CLAUDE?!" Justine shouted as she kicked Pluto's side harder. "Come on boy! Faster! I know you can do it!" The large long legs of the white beast worked harder and faster until they were a blur.

Claude looked up at the dog he galloped beside and snapped the reigns harder, causing the black beauty stallion to pick up speeds. With deep, heavy, quickened breaths, he shot a thick sticky line of web at the hound. When the web reached him, he yanked back, giving him the momentum to fly through the air and land on his back.

At the feeling of a new passenger, Pluto slid to a stop, his legs and paws digging into the dirt and mud. Huffing and puffing from the adrenaline, Claude jumped off the hell hound with the four teens, receiving four sets of horrid, mean looking glares from the blue, brown, and green eyes of the human, and reapers.

"...First off," he huffed with a little chuckle, pointing behind him happily. "...I've always wanted to do that! WOW! What a rush!" The teens raised their brows as Claude chuckled and looked back down the path he came from, his hands planted on his hips.

After some laughs, the spider's attention was brought back to the quartet he came to see. "...Not the reason why I'm here... Sorry, got a little distracted..." he grumbled before clearing his throat and returning his expression from one of a rebellious teen to one of the desperate father he truly was.

"...Look." he started, not completely sure what to say, but making it up as he went as he turned to the only teen in the current group with a drop of demon blood running through her veins. "You were right back in the shop." he stated. "I'm not trustworthy, and you have every right to suspect me of your families' disappearances after how I lied, scammed, betrayed, and cheated." After a moment's silence to recollect his thoughts, Claude added, "But I love Angel more than anything. She is literally my whole world. It was always hard to lie to, and disappoint her. I only want my daughter back, in return...I'll do everything I can to help you get the others back where they belong, exactly how they belong."

The teens eyed him skeptically before eyeing each other. "...Don't look at me, I hardly know him." Jeremy stated. "...But if he can help, nothing else is working, so let's give this a shot."

"The more the merrier." Rachel stated before she pulled out a huge cannon from seemingly nowhere. "I've been waiting to use this bad boy! Now it'll only be a matter of time before-" she was cut off from the questioning (frightened) looks of her friends (and Claude). "...I-I mean...worst case scenario, he's only good for scaring people off with his badassness."

"Meh, why not?" Paul shrugged passively. "If he doesn't help or he betrays us, I can always straighten him out with this!" he then pulled out a large sickle as tall as him with a blade half the length of the handle.

"...Isn't that Uncle Undy's?" Justine asked.

The reaper slumped. "Well, dad's not using it, and I know he's not using it because he left it at home, so that fact plus the small fact that he grounded me from my machete, I need a weapon! Especially if we're working with someone as badass as him!" he exclaimed, pointing a finger at the spider demon.

Justine took longer to reply to the spider's proposal. She looked at each of the members of the group, even Pluto (who barked in approval) before just staring at him up and down. She took in every detail, from the slight curls in his jet black hair, to the small fact that his dark trousers were a quarter inch too short for him. From the specks of dirt that collected on his silver glasses down to the single black button on his coat just below his breast pocket, straining to stay connected to the black fabric by the three thin strands of thread it hung on.

She didn't miss a single detail about him, but caught no hint that even suggested a liar. His pulse wasn't accelerating enough to tell, his hands weren't shaky, which could've suggested clammy palms, but none were spotted. He did have a damp hair line, with sweat beading his face, but he would've been a fool if he felt no nervousness at that current moment after what happened. Claude Feastus was many things, but he wasn't under any circumstance a fool. What convinced her most were his golden eyes. Had he been lying, they would've twitched to the left, but instead, they were locked tightly to look her dead in the eye. He only shifted his gaze to gain eye contact with the speaking teen.

The demon reaper sighed, accepting what she saw. "...If you guys are okay with it...then...I guess I can be okay with it too."

Claude smiled as he joined the teens. "You have no idea how much this means to me." he stated happily as he joined them on Pluto's back. "I'll be sure to be trustworthy, and helpful. I won't let you down."

Ash watched from a distance and sighed. "...I warned you, Claude Feastus." he stated as he flew away to rejoin the girls. "You cannot say I never warned you."

When Ash made it to his destination, he was confused when he heard laughter. His confusion didn't cease when he saw Angel and Angela flying around, getting caught in a girly giggle fit after every flight fail (which was every two minutes...an improvement). She still had her collar on, but he left her in her kennel with her wings clipped and stuck in dog form. Seeing her with two legs, hands, and stretched wings was a shock to him. "Angel!" he called, causing her to lose concentration on her flying and crash on the hard ground. "Follow me." he stated. "There's something I need to do, and your presence is crucial."

"No!" the teen cried. "I'm not going anywhere with you! MOM!"

Angela was quick to respond. "Angel, sweetie, Ash probably just wants to give you some medicine."

"What do you mean medicine?" she asked. "I'm not sick!"

"Angel, I still need you to-"

"I don't care what you need, _Ash_, I'm not going anywhere with you!" the teen crossed her arms before turning to the woman. "...Well...not without mom at least."

With Angela believing that it was time to cleanse her daughter, she smiled. "Alright, I'll go with you."

The three of them walked inside the home and down to the basement. Angel looked around in wonder and curiosity, feeling the need to touch everything now that she was calm and comfortable around Angela, who was currently talking with Ash about something oblivious to the teen. "Hey! Mom! What's this thing do?"

"Don't touch that!" she shouted. "That's a dangerous acid Ash uses to cleanse people who are unclean if they don't respond to other methods."

Angel nodded in understanding before her golden brown eyes sparkled at another object that sparked he curiosity. "What's this thingy?" And so it continued that Angel would get distracted by some interestingly shaped/colored object, and Angela would explain to her just how dangerous it was before another object would strike her interest.

Soon, Ash took in a deep breath and started to grab a bunch of thingamabobs, and whachamicallits. When he set them down on a table, he glanced over at the teen. "Angel!" he called. "Come here!"

With a nod from Angela, she complied. "...Yeah?"

"Lay on this table." he instructed. She did as she was told, getting approving comments from Angela saying it would be alright and it was all for her own good. When he picked up a needle, that was when Angel lept from the table and hid behind Angela's skirt. "I need you to be asleep as this happens, otherwise you'd feel much more pain than necessary."

"Get that needle away from me!" the teen cried, opening her wings to make a small tent out of them as she crouched down on the floor. "Last time you poked me with a needle, I woke up in a kennel with my wings clipped and a collar on my neck!"

"Angel, please." The sweet voice of her mother soothed as she rubbed her palm on the teen's back. "This needle is much different, and you'll feel much better when it's all over." Angel poked her eye out of her wings before sighing and folding the large white appendages, giving Ash clearance.

The needle in the man's hand was much smaller and shorter, so it didn't hurt as much. She still felt the pinch when the needle pricked her arm, but it only lasted a second. She was fine afterwards, but only for a few moments.

Suddenly, she clutched her head and howled in pain. A memory of Claude and her baking sweets and laughing flashed before her eyes as it melted into a vision of him bashing her head with a rolling pin that was sitting on the counter, calling her a mutt, runt, and useless stray.

As this new vision settled itself in the place of the past baking memory, a single tear trickled down Angel's cheek like the first drop of rain on a dusty, dry, glass window. It wasn't long before a tear did the same on the other cheek, and those small paths of the salty water grew wider and wider to make room for the new tears that paraded down her face.

Angela looked at her in concern and confusion. Angel wasn't supposed to react that way to cleansing, which was still what she believed Ash was planning to do with her. The said man simply smiled victoriously. "Let's see what Claude shall do now."

As the hours turned into days, which turned into weeks, Ash gave Angel more and more shots. She grew more and more bitter with every dose she received in her system. It broke Angela's heart to watch it happen before her eyes. "...Angel?" she called concerned. "...Sweetie?" she was answered by a depressed look as her daughter's golden brown gaze shined in the shadows of the corner she sat in. "...You haven't talked about your father in a while, not since Ash started giving you that medicine." _More like poison by the looks of it. _the mother thought.

The teen averted her eyes as she nestled her head in her knees covered in the white slacks, letting her hair fall in her face as it draped over her white tail coat, her purple shirt peeking out the suits sleeves and out from under the white tie she had around her neck with the same purple clip as before. "...What 'dad'?" she asked. "My name is simply Angel Blanc Landers. I'm no Feastus. Ash is my dad."

The mother placed a gentle hand on her back. "Your father..._REAL_ father...might be a demon, but throughout the years, he has proven to be the best father I could've ever wished for you."

The dog demon snapped her head around to look at her before she huffed. "After he lied to me? Beat me? Called me mean things? Made fun of me every chance he had?"

"He never did any of that!" Angela stated before raising her brows and choosing her words more carefully. "...Okay, he did lie to you...but only because he had to. He couldn't ever raise a hand to you, never even thought a mean thing about you, and only cared the most for you."

"Why don't you just cleanse me already?" the teen barked. "I don't want to be a demon!"

Angela sighed before she hugged the teen tightly. "...If that's truly what you want, I'll let Ash know. We'll get started tomorrow evening."

**. . .**

After weeks of hunting down the angels, Justine still kept Claude under her complete, undivided attention as they all five camped in the woods, hot on Angel's trail. She didn't want to run the risk that it was all an act. Glancing over, the demon reaper saw that Rachel, Jeremy, and Paul all already fell asleep in Pluto's long, soft fur. Though Claude was voted to keep watch so nothing bad happens, since he doesn't sleep much, Justine insisted on staying up with him. She could always catch a cat nap on the road when someone else could keep their eye on Claude.

"I'm not sure what else I can do to earn your trust." the spider sighed. "I already apologized for what I did to you, and I even did what I could to make up for it and return things to how they were. What more do you want from me?"

Justine was silent for a moment, nearly forgetting that she even had a voice from how long she went without speaking. After taking in a deep breath, she glanced up at the man. "...I don't get it." she sighed. "Why can't you tell us where you were? That could be where my dad, Bardroy, Uncle Undertaker, Uncle William, and my mom are." She was silent for a little longer as she fed the camp fire that danced in the black night. "We don't know if they're being tortured, or even killed, while you do know, and you're keeping your mouth shut under lock and key."

"I would tell you," he stated honestly, his tone showing genuine concern and empathy. "but I can't."

"You know, Claude," Justine stated, standing straight. "Trust works both ways. You trust us to get Angel back, we can trust what you say. The first step is honesty."

Just before she could leave to gather more firewood, he jumped up. "Wait!" The teen froze at the sudden command as the spider took in several deep breaths, huffing them out in uncertainty. "...I wanted to tell you exactly where the other adults are, but when Ash released me, he said that if I did help you, or try to find Angel, he'd replace all her good memories of me with bad ones." She listened to him speak as he took several nervous gulps. "Your parents aren't being tortured, none of them are. In fact, the largest torture was afflicted by you and your friends when you came in the shop, held the dolls in your hands, and turned your backs. Unintentional, yes, but still torturous."

The reaper's eyes widened. "...You had no control of yourself...couldn't move...couldn't speak...you shrank...we walked right up to you, and didn't see you, or at least know we saw you..." the wheels in her head continued to turn as she thought before a little light switched on, illuminating her head. "The dolls!" she exclaimed. "You and everyone else were the plush dolls in that shop!" Hurriedly, she transformed into a cat and lept in the night.

Claude watched her in curiosity. "Where are you going?!" he asked.

"If I'm not back before dawn, follow Pluto's sent! Find Angel!" she called before she disappeared in the cold midnight howling wind.

As the sun illuminated the sky with pink, orange, and indigo, Justine returned to the camp site with five plush dolls in her arms much to the other teens confusion. "I know cats have no brains, but this is a new low." Jeremy huffed.

"Shut up!" she scolded. "These aren't plush toys, they're our parents!" They all looked at her as though her marbles were rolling wild on the ground beneath her. As a result, she turned to Paul. "You said so yourself!" she smiled. "In your story a few weeks back, remember? There were dolls that looked just like the missing people!"

"Yeah, _made_ in their likeness." he repeated. "Not transforming them into dolls!"

To this, Justine groaned. "Seriously! What do you reapers learn in your classes? Obviously not what I learn in mine!" With that said, she explained. "A little a little over two years ago, my dad, master, and I met this guy who can turn people into dolls by singing London Bridge is Falling Down, but changing the words to 'Build it up with...blah blah blah', and the 'blah blah blah' is whatever he wants his target to be made up of." she stated. When she was met with blank stares, she growled and turned to the only adult in the group. "Claude," The spider turned to the teen at the sound of his name. "what were the words to the last version of London Bridge you've heard?"

"Before I was taken by the angels, it was simply, 'Build it up with cotton and cloth', then, when I was released, it was, 'Build it up with flesh and blood'." he answered truthfully with a smile. _Ash can't say I helped. _the spider smirked._ She figured it out on her own. Take that, egotistic angel!_

"So, here's the plan." Justine stated, handing the dolls to the teen they best fit (the grey and black doll to Paul, the dirty blond doll in white to Rachel, the red and black ones to Jeremy, and kept the one in black with red eyes for herself). "You guys go and find a way to get them back to normal. Claude and I will stick with Pluto and find Angel."

"Hell no!" Jeremy exclaimed, holding one doll in each hand as the other teens held their dolls close. "Just like my dad always says, never send a demon to do a reaper's job. This isn't over just yet."

"You got both mom and Uncle Will. That was what you set out to do." she stated. "You guys don't have any kind of ties to Angel like Claude and I do. Me and him will do this alone."

"But I thought you didn't trust him." Paul stated.

Justine glanced at the spider with a smirk. "He trusts me to help him get Angel back. He has something to lose if he betrays me. He knows I can, and will, easily turn my back. I think I can handle myself."

"If the three of us get our parents back," Rachel stated. "...what about Sebastian?"

With that said, she took her plush doll and tucked it away in her sweater. "I'm giving you all responsibility for your family members, and I'm Sebastian's only daughter. The responsibility is mine alone."

"Well then," Jeremy sighed, approaching his sister and wrapping his arm around her shoulders with the red doll now on Justine's arm. "following your logic, mom and dad'll have to wait. Your still my half sister, meaning mom is still your responsibility too."

"No!" Justine stated sternly. "You get mom and Uncle Will back. They are _both _essential for the facility to be up and running properly. That's the only way you can ever be of any help." The reaper gazed at his sister in slight disbelief. "It's your responsibility, not only to bring back mom and Uncle Will, but as William Spears' son, you have to get the reaper facility back on track. I doubt that Ronald can hold out for too much longer as the one in charge. You have to go. No 'if's, 'and's, or 'but's about it."

With that, she climbed up on Pluto's back, taking the collar in her hand as Claude climbed up behind her. She looked over the three other teens with a smile. "The city is down that way." she instructed. "It was a pleasure to meet all of you." and just like that, the spider, cat, and hound were bounding off in the woods.


	22. Chapter 22

That evening, Angel stood in the damp, stone basement with crossed arms as Ash searched the shelves for the cleansing supplies. Angela watched from the door in worry for her daughter. Something was dreadfully not right with the teen, and the woman had a guess that it had something to do with the shots Ash gave her daily for weeks now.

Finally, the man smiled and re-approached the teen with a glowing bottle in his hand. "There are many ways to cleanse." he explained, answering her unasked questions. "This bottle will cleanse you in the least painful way possible."

"How painful can it get?" Angel asked, half wanting to know the answer, half too afraid to find out.

Ash looked down at her, meeting her golden brown eyes with his royal purple half opened slits in his face with a growing, conniving smile. "We could burn it all away." he answered. The teen started looking nervous as the woman shifted uncomfortably at the thought of him burning her only child. "You see, we'd burn your body and trap the unclean part of your soul somewhere safe. That's only for the...less willing. This potion will do the same, but again, in the least painful way possible."

Just before he could give her the liquid...

"Wait!" Angela cried. "...Maybe we should...see if the demon will interfere." she stalled desperately.

To this, Ash dropped his arms and sighed heavily. "...Angela," he huffed, his black gloved hands on his white pantsed hips. "...are you backing out?" She froze at his question as he progressed to her. "You know this is inevitable. You are the one who wanted to specifically cleanse her. You are the one who wanted us to raise her with me as a purely angelic family." When she didn't answer, he proceeded to give Angel the bottle. "Drink this." he instructed. "Once you drink it, you will no longer be a demon, but a purified angel, as cleansed as God's fingers."

The teen took the bottle in her hand and hesitantly popped the cork. As she neared the bottle to her lips, she whipped her head at a burst of flame that crashed through the window as Justine was eased down the stone wall on a spider web and Claude came down moments later.

Angel's eyes widened in fear at the sight of the demon in black. Angela too widened her purple eyes, but more in shock than fear, while shifting behind shelves in shame. Claude looked around the room in disgust. One glimpse of his daughter, and he was infuriated, pointing a razor sharp glare to Ash as Justine ran up to her friend in relief. "Angel!" she called, hugging her close. "I thought that the angels might've hurt you, or worse! Are you alright?"

The cat shifted her eyes to the bottle in the dog's hand. "...What's going on? Why are you looking at your dad like that?"

"She is being cleansed." Ash explained. "And don't call that spider her father. I have now filled that role."

The spider grit his teeth in pure rage. "What did you do to my daughter?!" he growled.

To that, the angel shrugged and continued his smile quite devilishly for a claimed being of light. "I only did as I promised." he answered. "You went looking for her, helped those meddling kids find their parents, and I erased every good memory she has of you from existence."

Angela widened her eyes at this, glancing to the demon with tears running down her face, shaking her head slightly as the spider widened his own golden eyes and began to hyperventilate. His worst nightmare had come to life. "...Claude, I...I swear, I had no idea..." she promised. "...I just want what's best for Angel! I didn't know about this, I swear!"

"Angel!" the father barked, steadily regaining his balance. "Listen to me. I know you're in there somewhere. Don't you DARE drink that! The angels can't be trusted! Us, demons have to stick together! 'You and me against the world', remember?"

The teen shook her head in a determined daze. "...I'm no demon."

The mother then turned to her daughter. "Angel, sweetie, you're NOT a pure angel, but that's not bad! You are half demon, and I still love you!"

Claude stepped forward and spoke to her as calmly as he could. "Baby Girl, I don't know what Ash told you, or gave you, or what, but it's not true! And I'm sorry I never told you that Angela was you birth mother! I'm sorry I never told you that Sebastian trapped her and Ash for, what we all thought at the time would be, an eternity! I'm sorry I'm not the picture perfect father who Ash is promising to be! I'm sorry for all those times I've yelled at you, lost my temper at you, and misunderstood you! But Ash put a collar on you, like you were a dog, and I doubt that collar would ever come off if you stay here! Just please forgive me, and let's go back to the manner. Let's go home."

Angel looked at the extended hand questioningly as Justine and Angela could only watch tensely, anxiously. Taking in a deep breath, the teen with white wings furrowed her brows. "...Too late..._dad_." With that, she poured the liquid down her throat and shattered the empty glass bottle on the ground. As the glass shattered on the stone, Angel limply fell to the stone as well in a coma-like state.

"NO!" Claude screamed, burning his legs from the intensity of his run across the room. Once he got to her side, he skid to a stop, collapsed on his knees, and hugged her tight, using her shoulder to hide his tears.

"Angel? Angel!" Justine called, running up to her best friend in alarm and trying to pull her to her feet. Before she could touch her, she was dragged away in Pluto's jaws. She whipped her head to the hound's collar to see it glow a bright white-ish light blue. Infuriated, she jerked her head to the still smiling angel. "What did you do?!" she demanded. "What was in that bottle?!"

"Angel is still alive, if that's what you're wondering." he answered nonchalantly. "She's in the process of being cleansed. Right now, as we speak, Angel the Demon is being suppressed in this." He then raised a small jar into view. Inside the glass appeared to be a small, transparent face that gradually became more solid. "Her angelic half is being left in her body. The process of cleansing is so painful, I suppose she couldn't handle it and slipped into a coma. She'll be fine."

Angela was also confused by all this. "Ash! Why did you do any of this behind my back?" she screamed, giving his shoulder a typical angry girly beating. "Angel didn't need all those shots at all, didn't she? You lied to me!"

"You didn't want her cleansed!" Ash shot back. "You were happy with her just how she was! You're the one who lied to me! If anything, you are just as clean as any demon!" With that, he turned to the hell hound. "Make sure they stay here and don't try to go through that broken window." he instructed before giving Angela a glare. "...all three of them."

Shaking his head violently like any other dog, Pluto took Justine's sweater from her shoulders, causing the 8'' plush doll to fall and bounce on the the ground. Ash smiled as he bent over and picked it up. "Thank you for bringing Sebastian here." he stated. "I'll keep him safe and sound." With that, he tucked the black doll in his white suit and looked down at the sobbing spider.

Lifting his foot high, Ash placed his heal on Claude's head and kicked him to the ground away from the unconscious teen. The spider only had enough time to pick himself up from the stone ground to see Ash towering over him with his daughter in the angel's arms. With one more hard kick to the face, knocking his glasses off, Ash stood straight and continued his way out the door. "I warned you this would happen if you helped those children with their fools errand!" he called, looking back from the door, getting ready to close it and lock Angela, Justine, and Claude in the concrete and hard stone basement. "Remember that, you eight legged insect. You cannot say I never warned you."

The door shut and locked and Claude didn't move from his place. He couldn't. His entire being was as shattered as the glass. There was no more hope for his daughter now, so there was no more hope for him either.

Justine stood there in complete shock. What shocked her wasn't losing her father yet again, she saw that coming a mile away, but, all her power of foresight, and she never thought that Angel would turn on her father like that...turn on her best friend like that...

Angela rushed to Claude and attempted to pull him up. "Come on Claude!" she cried. "Get up! Please!" The demon didn't respond. The angel read his mind, though, and still fought for him to get to his feet. "Claude, please! I'm sorry for everything! If it weren't for me, you and Angel would've still been united, I know that! Ash never wanted anything to do with you! I did! But I never wanted all this to happen! As Angel's father, you have to help clean this mess! I can't stand up to Ash alone! Please! Get up!" She helplessly lifted the dead weight of the spider mere inches before dropping him and rolling up her sleeves to try again, never getting further than a few inches.

"What could we possibly do now?" Justine asked. "Angel is already 'cleansed', or in the process."

"She's being stripped of her demonic powers, which is the face you saw in that jar Ash had." the angel hastily explained as she continued to force the demon to his feet. "If we shatter the jar, then her demonic self would be restored to her, and she would be as she was before Ash and I intervened. We'd have to be careful though. When it breaks, it'll be absorbed by the nearest being it could find."

"But, what about the collar on her?" the teen asked. "Isn't that the collar Ash uses to control Pluto?"

Angela nodded hastily. "But I now cannot take it off. Only Ash can."

"Why?"

"When I turned back on the original plan to cleanse her, he took his half of our collective powers with him. That's also why I cannot fight him off alone and expect to win." She then turned back to Claude and continued to pull him up and plead with him to not lose hope.

"What about my dad?" Justine asked. "What will Ash do to my dad?"

"No idea." she huffed. "He could lock him up, torture him, burn him, the possible outcomes are limitless. Ash has full power now that he has his half of our powers, Pluto, and now Angel on his side."

Justine thought for a moment. "First we need to get out of here."

Suddenly, they heard a loud whine and a thundering thump. Looking back, the women saw Pluto out cold on the stone ground, his collar fading from its light back to its original black. Steadying herself on his back was a dirty blonde teenage girl, turning a rifle from the butt to the barrel pointed to the mutt. Looking up with blue-grey eyes, she smirked. "Hey Justine. Miss me?"

The demon could only smile. "Rachel! But...what about Bar-"

"Talking about me, eh?!" the slang voice shouted from the small window high on the wall. The blonde man lowered a rope and smiled. "Grab on!"

Justine smiled brightly. "Bard!" Quickly, her smile straightened slightly before she looked back at the demon overwhelmed with despair and looked back up at the cook. "You mind giving us a hand?" she asked. "Claude is too heavy for us and he won't move!"

"No prob!" he shouted. "Just drag him to the rope, and tie him up!" The two did as they were instructed before grabbing the rope with Rachel and letting Bard pull them up.

As the cook pulled the rope, Justine looked over at Angela in curiosity. "I thought you had wings." she stated bluntly. "Why wouldn't you just fly yourself out?"

"Ash clipped my wings." she sighed. "Besides, even if he hadn't, I couldn't leave Claude behind, and he added too much weight for me to fly this high."

The teen smiled and climbed out the window with the brother's and sister's help before helping them with Angela and Claude. When she stood and looked back, she only had seconds to react to being glomped in a blur of red. "Tine! I was so worried! Are you alright?! Did those horrid angels hurt you?! Don't think that just because I was a doll, I didn't see the whole thing! What were you thinking?!"

"Hi to you too mom!" Justine choked out before pushing herself off and looking around. They were basically in a semi-circle of protection with Paul and his machete, Undertaker and his sickle, William and his tree clippers, and even Grell, though he wasn't in the line, had his chainsaw out, so the teen figured he was in the line before she came out. "How did you guys get back to normal?" she asked as Undertaker helped Angela drag Claude away from the window. "How'd you all know where we were?"

"I brought them all here." came a voice as deep as William's, but as sly as Grell's. The demon had to physically take off her purple glasses and clean them on her shirt before confirming who it was that came up.


	23. Chapter 23

His black dress shoes poked out of his black slacks. A black suit draped over his shoulders and the top few buttons of his white shirt were undone down to a completely buttoned purple vest. His slender neck held up his long, lean face proudly as a smile stretched across his thin lips. In one black nailed hand, he kept a double bladed ax over his shoulders behind his neck with the razor sharp steel on the high, far end. In the other hand, he held his thick, square, black glasses at the end of his long nose to gaze over the frame with lime yellow-green eyes. One dark brown brow arched high as the other served as its complete contrast above his eye. Draped around his shoulders and framing his light face, was the same dark brown hair with the waves of a brown ocean.

Justine was never happier to see the reaper as she ran up and hugged him tight. "Jeremy!" That was the first time she ever called him by his actual birth name, so he didn't know how to react at first. After a short moment, the older brother smiled as he held her head of long, wavy, red-brown hair in his hand and pulled her close. "I still don't understand." she admitted. "How'd you know?"

"Well..."

~flashback~

Jeremy looked back in the direction his younger sister left in before turning to the other two teens. "We have to go with her." he insisted.

"We can't." Rachel stated. "We need to get our families back. After that, then we might be able to help, but there's not much we can do."

Hearing this, the reaper grit his teeth. "She might be a Scaredy Cat, but she's still my little sister." he stated angrily, filled with determination. "We don't even know the first thing about how to get our parents back to normal!"

"They said it was the song London Bridge, right?" Paul asked thoughtfully. "Maybe..." He then placed his small grey and black doll on the ground and took in a deep breath.

"London bridge is falling down~  
Falling down~  
Falling down~  
London bridge is falling down~  
My fair lady~"

To his dismay, nothing happened.

With a groan, Rachel rotated to the reaper. "You're doing it wrong!" she exclaimed commandingly. "You have to change the words, remember?" She then placed her dirty blonde doll on the ground and huffed out the words.

"You are now to be full grown~  
Be full grown~  
Be full grown~  
You are now to be full grown~  
'Cause I say so~"

Jeremy clutched his chin in thought before turning to the two. "That's not it either. She said it had to be specific words...what were they..." After a moment, he placed his black and red dolls on the ground next to the two other 8'' dolls.

"...Build it up in flesh and blood~  
Flesh and blood~  
Flesh and blood~  
Build it up in flesh and blood~  
My fair lady~"

~end flashback~

"...After that, we just followed the path that you took." Jeremy finished explaining.

Justine then explained what happened in their absence as the reapers and humans listened thoughtfully.

When she finished explaining, Grell smiled. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!" he smiled. "My Bassy needs saving!"

The daughter looked up at her mother in confusion. "...Mom, you and dad broke up centuries ago, remember?"

To that, Grell shrugged. "Does that mean I can't be simple friends with him?" he asked. The teen didn't respond and just sighed, removing her glasses as she rubbed the bridge of her nose and soar eyes.

"We have to save Uncle Bassy anyway." Jeremy exclaimed, causing his sister to raise her brows.

"...'Uncle Bassy'?" she asked, not believing what she just heard. "So now you think demons aren't that bad?"

"You call my dad 'uncle'." the brother shrugged nonchalantly. "So why not?"

To that, Justine sighed as William held his tree cutter down at his side. "Call him what you'd like." he stated blandly. "It doesn't change the fact that he still needs help, and that the demon right over there will be of no assist to us." He pointed to Claude as he sat limply on a tree, slowly mustering the strength to turn away from everyone else and curl in a depressed ball before remaining still once again; even his breathing was undecipherable.

"Come now," Undertaker sighed, looking down at the spider. "you have to find some strength in you to do something other that sulk! You're acting like a teenage girl that just broke up with her first boyfriend!" Claude remained unfazed.

Bard sighed tiredly, planting his hands on his hips. "Looks like Sebastian isn't the only one that needs saving right now."

**. . .**

Ash happily gazed at the black doll in his black gloved hand as he twisted it in his fingers. "...What to do with you now..." he thought to himself. "Shall I burn you now, or wait until your precious daughter can watch? Shall I get rid of you now, or display you where you can see me cleanse your daughter?"

"How about you give him back to his daughter?" The sound of the second female voice caused the angel to furrow his white brows and turn in his seat from the grand, white and golden, roaring fire place in front of his shining gold and royal purple throne.

Seeing it was Angela, he only laughed and returned his attention to the fire glowing behind the black doll with a small smile sewn into its face under its blood red eyes. "You cannot fight me, Angela." he sighed victoriously. "We are the same being, two sides of a single coin, Without me, there is no you."

The woman shook her head. "We formed our own coins with our own backs the moment you went behind mine." she growled. She then turned over her shoulder and shouted, "NOW!"

Behind Ash, a cloth bag was wrapped around his neck. Panic filled the male angel as Paul fought to keep the bag on his head and Bard snatched the jar on the side table with a nearly solid figure of a dog too weak to stand, tossing it to Angela. The female angel caught it and ran up the steps of the large mansion.

In all the chaos, Ash's fingers slipped and the doll fell into the fire. With eyes growing wide, Justine only watched in horror before she hurriedly slurred the tune from her lips.

"Build it up in flesh and blood~  
Flesh and blood~  
Flesh and blood~  
Build it up in flesh and blood~  
My fair lady~"

The fire exploded and flared around the room, causing everyone in the room to shield themselves from the light and heat. The fire place cracked and fell to rubble, causing the fire to extinguish. A series of coughs were heard as the dust was swatted away by a lean, white gloved hand. "...What is it with angels and dolls?" asked the man in the ruin of the fire place.

Justine smiled and ran up to her father, hugging him tightly. "Dad!"

Sebastian hugged back fully after pinching small fires that lingered in his hair and cloths. "You did it." he smiled. "You don't know how much I've wanted to hug you back from the moment you walked in that toy store."

Ash ripped the bag from his head and growled before slipping off his right glove and placing his thumb and index finger in the corners of his mouth, blowing out a loud, highly pitched whistle.

**. . .**

Angela searched the rooms for her daughter. When she finally found her, she was still in her coma, laying on the small bed. "...Angel?" she called, sitting on the edge of the mattress and taking in a deep sigh. "...I can only say that I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause all these problems for you and your father. Now he needs you. He fell apart. All your father wants is for you to be your own free self. You can't have that here. You are a prisoner here. Your demonic half is being suppressed, and your angelic half is being controlled like a dog. I can't do much to make up for all these horrid things I'd done, but what I can do is give you back your demonic half and all your good memories of your father. Your real father." Aiming it for right next to the teen, the angel got ready to stand back and throw the jar.

Before she could, a loud, highly pitched whistle was heard through the mansion from down the dark oak stairs. Widening her purple eyes in fear, Angela looked back at the door then to the teen on the bed, who quickly responded to the whistle with a cry of pain. "Angel!" the mother cried, hurrying to her side before standing back in fear.

The collar around her neck glowed a bright blue light and Angel's eyes snapped open and whipped around. Her eyes lost their past golden brown glow and was replaced with a deep lavender with slit pupils. When the purple eyes landed on the woman with white hair, she looked angry, but also confused. "...Mom?" she asked. "What are you doing here?"

Angela raised the jar again, aimed for her daughter's feet as she stood from the bed. "I came to set everything right."

To this, Angel smiled a sly grin, spreading her arms victoriously. "What are you talking about?" she chuckled. "Things haven't been _more_ right!"

"Angel, sweetie," the mother called warningly. "This isn't you. You were born to be a demon too, not just an angel. Ash and I were wrong to try to change you."

Angel took in a deep breath, gaining a look of seriousness. "...If that's what you truly think, then you're just like any other demon." With that, she leapt toward her and knocked her to the ground. The jar in her hand rolled out the cracked door and down the steps.

Ash smiled when he saw the jar at the base of the steps and picked it up victoriously. "Thank you~!" Grell smiled as he rushed past the angel, snatching the jar from his hand.

"Give that back, you reaper!" the angel growled as he chased him.

The reaper in red only smiled as he tossed it over his head. "What are you talking about?" he asked teasingly. "I don't have it!"

William caught it and continued to run to another stair case. Once he made it to the flight of steps, Ash swooped in front of him, his large white wings slightly folded intimidatingly. The reaper looked back in anxiety. "Dad!" Jeremy called. "I'm open!" With that, William threw the jar to his son, who caught it narrowly and took off running.

As he ran, Paul, Undertaker, Bard, Rachel, and Sebastian made their way up the stairs in a hurry. The demon looked back at his daughter when she didn't follow him. "Come on!" he urged desperately. "We need to stop your friend from turning sides!"

"I need to keep Claude in the loop!" she argued. "He needs me more than all of you guys right now! I'll be fine! Don't worry!" and she ran out the door, separating from her father yet again.

"Uncle Bassy!" Jeremy called from down the stairs. "Heads up!"

Justine hurried as fast as she could to where the spider still laid in his curled up ball of shame and depression. "Claude!" she called. "We need you! Now!" Still, he remained unfazed and silent. "Listen! If you don't help now, Angel will be under Ash's thumb for the rest of her life! She might die!" At the word 'die', he twitched slightly before turning to see the teen, his golden eyes slightly widened behind his glasses. "Yeah! You heard that right! Your daughter, my best friend, DEAD! There's still a chance, but for this chance to work, you need to get off your butt and do something for your daughter! Are you a spider...or a fly?"


	24. Chapter 24

Angel didn't lighten her attack on Angela as the mother only tried to dodge the attacks and stay away from her. She didn't know how much longer she could last without hurting her only daughter.

Suddenly, someone skid to the door and caught herself on the frame. "Angel!" the human teen called. When the 'purified' angel looked up, Rachel tossed the jar. "Heads up!" The glass shattered at the purple eyed teen's feet as the dog evaporated from the shattered remains of the jar. The vapor of the demonic spirit circled the teen before absorbing itself into her.

The girl in the collar curled into herself, shielding her face from the other two occupants in the room who both gazed at her in worry. Shakily, she looked up with her round, golden brown eyes, glowing like twin candles in Christmas eve night. "...Mom?" she called, tears pricking at her eyes.

Angela sighed as she embraced her daughter. "My sweet baby." she breathed out in relief as she smiled in the teen's hair.

Suddenly, Angel screamed and clutched her head, the intensity of the light illuminating from the collar growing brighter. Seeing that was the problem, she ripped at the collar, trying to get it off to no avail. "Mom!" she cried. "Get it off! GET IT OFF!"

"I can't!" the woman sobbed, shaking her head. "You have to fight it!"

"We have to get out of here!" Rachel shouted, pulling Angela to the door as Angel started going wild, throwing furniture and whatever she could get her claws on to shatter on the walls of the large, white room.

It wasn't until the teen looked at her mother with pleading eyes, swapping between deep purple and bright brown, between slit snake eyes to round innocent eyes, when they left.

"Where are you going?" Ash asked when the teens and parents made it to the main room once again. "You'll miss the main event." With that, he whistled again. The one to answer unwillingly was Angel. She tried desperately to hold herself back as she appeared at the top of the stairs, her white wings spread wide. "Sick 'em!" he ordered.

As the teen's white wings flapped, elevating her up, she flailed her legs to go against his command, clawing at the collar, but she still hovered down, swooping over the group and grabbing Bard. As the two flew up, Angel tried hard to fight it as she flew up and out the window.

Once she was as high as the chimney, keeping herself and the human at bay above the edge of a cliff with white water slapping the large, jagged rocks at low tide, she let go of Bard and heard his cries with tears cascading down her face. "No!" she cried, summoning all her strength to make a double of herself to catch the cook and ease his acceleration to zero before accelerating up and placing him in a patch of grass. _...I still have power of my demonic half... _she noted. _I'll keep that in mind to save everyone else...I have to..._

With that, she dashed back to the mansion only to receive a new order. "Stay!"

Hearing this new order, the collar glowed brighter for a moment, causing her pain as she continued to attempt to rip it off. A few moments after the attempt failed, she zipped back to the group and landed on the ground. "Take the reaper with the machete first." Unwillingly, she turned to Paul.

The teen reaper gripped his machete tight in his hold. "Angel! Don't do this!" he begged, dodging her punches. "I don't want to hurt you!"

"You think I want to hurt you?!" she cried, opening her hands and summoning two hand swords in her palms. With a few slashes, Paul was out in shock. Naturally, his father came up against her. "I don't want to do any of this!" the teen cried, dodging the chainsaw, clippers, sickle, ax, gun butts (Rachel didn't want to shoot her, and she only had guns), whip, and even silver kitchen knives before throwing her lethal blows.

As the fight wore on, Angel stopped to clutch her head. After a moment, she exploded from her fetal position and couldn't take it anymore. With tears raining down her face, she cried loud and clear, "DADDY! HELP ME!"

Upon hearing the scream, Claude widened his golden eyes and zipped up to his feet, looking over at the mansion in high alert. Justine looked over at the mansion also, knowing fully well who made the cry. Turning to Claude, she asked, "What's it going to be?"

Still, the spider was silent, but with furrowed brows over his glowing pink demonic eyes, he trudged to the mansion in rage. Justine followed him as he only saw red, kicking the large door down off its hinges.

Inside, Ash narrowly missed the door. As Claude marched straight to the angel to blame, Justine rushed to Angel's side. "What's wrong? What did he do to you?"

"He...ordered me to...to kill everyone..." she sobbed. "...I'm...sorry..." With that, the dog whipped around and slashed Justine with her sword. The cat narrowly missed the blade and blocked another blow with her small maroon scissors scythe. "Justine! You have to stop me! Please!"

With a nod, the cat demon swiftly got behind her best friend and punched her upside her head, knocking her out. "...Sorry Angel, but I had to." Turning their attention to Claude and Ash, all anyone could do was watch as they fought one on one.

"...Shouldn't we help him?" Rachel asked, concern drenching her voice.

Sebastian shook his head. "Claude was hurt the most from Ash's actions. His defeat would only mean something if it's won at his own hand."

Claude and Ash threw punches and kicks at each other. The glares the demon sent the angel with his slit, pink eyes caused Ash to get more and more nervous as the fight dragged on. The angel eventually pulled out his golden handled sword as the demon slashed out golden knives in between each of his white gloved fingers.

The sword swung and slashed at the man in black as the golden knives blocked the steel in Claude's left hand. In his right hand, he threw his knives at the white man at bullet speed. Ash dodged each knife that was thrown at him, blocking some with his sword.

"You should've never thought that you could have a child with a being of the heavens!" the angel smiled widely. "Then, at least, you would've lived!"

"It's amazing how you can be this cocky when both Pluto and Angel cannot come to your aid, and you are even more limited to just your half of the powers you and Angela pooled together." Claude smirked cheekily.

To this, the angel growled and swooped himself up to the second floor balcony on his large white wings. The demon in turn shot a web to the roof and launched himself to Ash, throwing more knives like bullets from his powerful hands. "I warned you that I'd do all this!" he stated truthfully as he clutched the demon's shoulder in his black glove and shoved him to the edge. "Nothing I did was a secret from you!" The winged man cornered Claude over the rail of the second floor.

The spider quickly turned to the teens and adults on the first floor and shouted, "You all might want to leave! This could get messy!"

Ash smiled as the group followed his advise, Undertaker holding his weak son over his shoulder and Angela and Justine pulling Angel out. The white haired man pulled his sword to the black haired man's throat. "Now who's cocky?"

"...Now, this seems familiar..." Claude smiled, looking around. "One, two, three! One, two, three!" With every number, he made another slash with his knives until their positions were switched.

Reaching the white wings, the demon mercilessly ripped the feathers from the flesh and violently turned Ash around for better reach. When the angel tried to make another slash at him, Claude simply took the blade and threw it across the hall. Roughly, the spider took a sewing needle and thread from his coat and sewed the wings together. Surprisingly, he had the ability to make a spider web design, marking the angel as his prey alone in the rushed stitching.

With a smile, he took the broad shoulders dressed in white and lifted the thin face inches from his own. He smiled when he saw the purple eyes in a coat of fear before he shoved the now flightless angel over the rail. "Down you go!"


	25. Chapter 25

Ash had a hard time getting over the whip lash as Claude took his time making his way down to the white and purple man. "Now, I can't say that I warned you not to mess with a demon," he smiled cockily, his limitless plethora of knives in his hands. "but, I simply thought it was common knowledge by now, with the reputation demons have built over the centuries."

"Go back to hell." Ash mustered the air to say.

To this, Claude smiled. "I miss it there. No pesky angels getting in your business. Sadly, now, I'll get a new neighbor. Don't worry, it won't be a sudden move." he promised, slowly digging his knife in the angel's arm, soaking the white suit and purple shirt in crimson blood. "I'll be sure the transition is nice and slow."

Out of desperation, Ash reached over and snatched a pot that fell on the floor from a table and smashed it on Claude's head, shattering it. The demon was distracted just long enough for the angel to slip from his hold and dash up the steps for his sword. With one arm in too much pain to do anything with, he wobbled as he reached for his sword with his one good hand.

Claude followed him up the steps, his anger still far from gone, but with the grace that he normally had as he shot several strings on the walls and floors, surrounding the angel in a complex web. "These webs are my prized weapon." he stated in pride. "One false move, and...well," he couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips. "I'm afraid our fun will be _cut_ short."

Like the spider he was, he lept on the strings and balanced on them perfectly as he took the sword right out of the black gloved hand. When Ash reached for it back, his coat found its way to the web, and it sliced through the thick cloth like a fork through warm butter.

Instead of just cutting Ash into bits with the sword, Claude had more fun with his opportunity and sung the sword just close enough for him to instinctively move into a web, gaining another cut. With a growing smile, he thought of a new way for him to have fun with this once in a lifetime opportunity. He shrank his form to a small brown recluse spider and climbed around the webs.

Ash fearfully moved as far from the small deadly spider as he could while still staying in one piece, which proved to be a large challenge. When the insect finally made it on the angel's hand, he crawled under his sleeve and made miniscule bites in various places, causing the areas of the bites to disintegrate, but not enough for him to die. That would be too merciful.

Eventually, Claude climbed back out of the mess of webs and grew to his human form, retrieving the sword before returning in the strings and navigating the web to be face to face with the angel. He wanted to say something to the angel as himself so he'd remember his face, not his species. "...One more thing before I win our little game." he stated with a large smile.

Taking the sword tight in his hand, he held it between himself and the angel and he leaned forward, forcing Ash to lean back into the webs. "Next time you want to contain a spider," With quick, agile movements, the demon pulled the steel blade back and plunged it in the stomach behind the purple shirt.

Pushing his face even closer to Ash's, Claude grit his teeth and finished his last line. "...make sure it's not poisonous, 'cause they will bite the hand that tries to contain them." With that, he twisted the sword to make the experience all the more agonizing for Ash and all the more enjoyable for him before he ripped the blade out, kicking the man in white away from the steel for him to be chopped in the web, his many bloody pieces scattered on the floor. As the demon smiled at the pile of bloody mush, he jabbed the sword in the pile. "True fact. Look it up." he stated with a conniving chuckle that would send a chill down any spine, no matter how brave.

**. . .**

Claude returned outside where all the teens and adults waited to hear something from the spider. He smiled kindly as he looked over at his daughter, who was just starting to come to from being knocked out. The collar around her neck wasn't glowing anymore, so the rest of the group knew something happened to Ash.

Claude simply glanced at Angela with a growing smile. Suddenly, he reached over and pulled her in for a tight, much desired hug. "...Thank you." he smiled in her ear lovingly.

"Is Ash...?" The spider nodded to Rachel.

"That means you get your powers back!" Justine exclaimed to the woman in white. "...Right?" As a response, Angela popped her large, white wings out and hovered the ground for a few moments.

"That means you can take Angel's collar off...right?" Paul asked.

After a moment, Angela approached her daughter. "...Angel?" she called "Are you alright?"

"...Yeah...I think so, mom." she groaned, not noticing that the mother was fiddling with the buckle on her neck. The teen didn't understand why the rest of the group was looking at her until Angela smiled, pulling back with a strip of black leather. Angel hurriedly moved her hand to her neck and was over joyed to feel the collar gone. She then noticed Claude standing not far away and rushed to hug him. "DAD!" she cried in his shoulder. "I'M SO SO SORRY! I DIDN'T MEAN ANY OF IT! I PROMISE! I LOVE YOU DAD!"

The spider only hugged his daughter tight. "It's alright." he soothed. "It wasn't you talking. It was Ash having you around his finger."

"So, things are back to how they were?" Rachel asked her older brother.

Bard simply smiled and pulled Rachel close in a side hug as they all walked. "For you and me, things go back to how they were. I'm guessing for everyone else, it'll be just a little different." He looked back at Jeremy and Justine, who walked together with arms happily linked, Paul talking about some change suggestions he had for the morgue to his father, Grell and William trying to make sense of why Jeremy was calling Sebastian 'Uncle Bassy', and Angel walking down the road with her father in her right hand, and her mother in her left hand. Everyone smiled as they walked down the road.

After some time of walking, Claude and Angela let Angel's hands go to hold hands themselves, but the teen didn't mind and joined her teenage friends. "...Come back to the Trancy manner with me and Angel." the butler offered. "I can convince the young master to hire you as a maid or something. Besides, it might be good for Angel to have her actual mother around, to answer questions about her angelic half. As you might've noticed...I'm not one hell of a flying teacher."

Angela smiled at him before she sighed. "I want to, I really do, but you're a demon, and I'm an angel. We can't just-" She was interrupted when the spider's lips met hers.

When they parted only seconds later, the demon could only smile. "You talk too much."

With a growing smile, Angela answered him with no words. Instead, she lightly gripped his tie and gently pulled him down to her lips. As the sounds of the rest of the group's talking faded from existence, they stood there with all the firey passion of hell, and all the calming bliss of heaven all combined into one time freezing moment.


End file.
